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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22525918">Does He Confuse the Gods? Probably.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OftenEvening/pseuds/OftenEvening'>OftenEvening</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ATEEZ (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Attraction, Banter, Begins in present day and moves forward into near future, But balanced with regular scenes, Chatting &amp; Messaging, Do have characters whose jobs are catching bad guys, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, Humor, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), OT8 here but not all appear, POV Third Person Limited, Past Relationship(s), References to mild on the job violence, San is a saint, Slow Burn, Swearing, Yeosang is confusing, sansang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:49:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>35,757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22525918</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OftenEvening/pseuds/OftenEvening</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>csthedevil:<br/>
Are you searching right now??</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Yes.<br/>
Don’t say you don’t want me to find it.<br/>
You wouldn’t have said “viral” and “video” otherwise.<br/>
Oooh.<br/>
Found it.<br/>
Huh.<br/>
The person who filmed this liked the zoom lens.</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
Not that one.<br/>
That one’s not a good idea.<br/>
(Seen)</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
What. Is with. That expression.</p><p>Or: After his military service has ended, Yeosang messages San, his former basic training instructor, who had recommended him to a battalion for recruits with specific  abilities. San is fascinated—and confused. Will anything become clearer when they meet in person again? Given that it’s  Yeosang...probably not. (Split semi-evenly between texting and regular scenes.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi San &amp; Jung Wooyoung, Choi San &amp; Kang Yeosang, Choi San &amp; Park Seonghwa, Choi San/Kang Yeosang, Jung Wooyoung &amp; Kang Yeosang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>79</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>173</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The opening scene in the military is super brief, but it’s important background going forward. New recruits are called trainees in South Korea during basic training, but almost all the rest is totally my imagination, though I tried to make it logical. Please note, because of the nature of this alternate universe, I took definite liberties with normal protocols.<br/>This is my first fic, so I hope the tags are okay!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Choi San’s curiosity was caught by Kang Yeosang, he was in uniform. San, as an assistant instructor, listened quietly to the speeches and kept a watchful eye on the newly enlisted. Most were tired and fidgety. But in the third row stood a slender trainee, calm and unmoving, eyes focused on the speaker.</p>
<p>A week passed before he saw the young man again, sitting at a mess hall table. He seemed ordinary, until his head jerked up, and at his low shout, the entire assembly dropped to the floor. San took a step forward in puzzlement—then the roar of a dragon set off alarms and fire burst through the roof. He ran to the special weapons facility. As the teams grabbed their gear, his mind flashed a question: how had the kid known before the alert?</p>
<p>Within an hour, the frustrated dragon shifter was locked in a holding cell awaiting transport. San and the other instructors returned to the scorched building, fire-dousing foam dripping from every point. He sighed. Requisition forms, construction requests, damage reports…. Nearly all the trainees were still huddled on the floor, except the kid and those from his table. They were sitting against a wall. He frowned.</p>
<p>They scrambled to their feet as he stalked toward them. “Names,” he ordered.</p>
<p>Each quickly identified himself. All but the last looked nervous.</p>
<p>“Trainee Kang Yeosang,” he said.</p>
<p>“Trainee Kang, why did you move from your positions? You were ordered to stay down.”</p>
<p>“Yes, Instructor Choi, but the roofing began to fall.” he gestured at the mess on the floor. “Since the shifter had been seized, moving here seemed acceptable.”</p>
<p>San was instantly annoyed at himself. He should have noticed. Other instructors were guiding men around the clutter. Physical harm had been avoided and—wait.</p>
<p>“How did you know the shifter had been captured? Did you leave the building?”</p>
<p>The trainee’s eyes widened slightly.</p>
<p>“And how did you know to shout a warning before the alarms went off?”</p>
<p>“I heard its hunting cry. I apologize for my actions. I had no right and it was unnecessary.”</p>
<p>A protest came from another trainee, rapidly shushed by the man next to him. San’s eyes darted to both. “Trainee Jung Wooyoung? Trainee Jeong Yunho? You have something to say?”</p>
<p>“No, Instructor Choi.”</p>
<p>San looked back. “Perhaps unnecessary, but useful. You must have remarkable hearing to have heard the dragon approach.”</p>
<p>“I suppose I do?”</p>
<p>He raised an eyebrow. “Are you uncertain of your hearing?”</p>
<p>A faint flush rose on the other’s face. “No, Instructor Choi. I am confident in what I heard. It was very loud.” He rubbed at his temple. “When it stopped, I knew the threat was gone. Did I make another mistake? None of us left the building.”</p>
<p>“No. No mistake. You’re all dismissed.”</p>
<p>The men made their way to the mess hall entrance and disappeared. An ordinary human hearing a hunting cry? Not likely. He’d need to report that.</p>
<p>Over the remaining weeks of basic training, San taught the group including Kang Yeosang and the two men he seemed close to. The Master Sergeant had quickly transferred supervision after his briefing. If what they suspected was true, he needed to keep an eye on them. On him.</p>
<p>Reviewing his files, San had discovered “the kid” was one month older than he. He wrote up reports. Jeong Yunho was an excellent marksman. Jung Wooyoung did well in the obstacle course. Kang Yeosang terrified dozens during stealth training. No human—or shifter—ever heard him approach, just felt the soft shoulder tap, and whipped around to see his bright smile.</p>
<p>The last day included battalion assignments. San personally delivered Kang Yeosang’s.</p>
<p>He flipped through the pages. “Isn’t this area of mountain range uninhabited? I didn’t know we had a post there, Instructor Choi.”</p>
<p>San smiled wryly. “Instructor Choi” echoed in his dreams, he heard it so frequently. He wondered if it would haunt him forever. Terrible thought.</p>
<p>“It’s a very…special battalion. For trainees like you. Those who adapt and recover more quickly than most.”</p>
<p>“Oh. I’m guessing there won’t be computer rooms nearby for off-duty hours.”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>The other sighed, then smiled. “Thank you, Instructor Choi.”</p>
<p>They saluted each other and San watched him walk away. What would his future look like?</p>
<p>**********</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">(Two and a half years later.)</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>It wasn’t the first time a former trainee had found him on Instagram. “Devil” instructors were notorious in the army, and people found it hilarious that his username predated enlistment, let alone his promotion. But he hadn’t expected a message from Kang Yeosang.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
So this is the account of Instructor Choi.</p>
<p>csthedevil: <br/>
Please. No more. <br/>
That name recalls mountains of paperwork.<br/>
Choi San-ssi is much preferred.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Mountains of paperwork.<br/>
But San means mountain.<br/>
Looks like you’ll never escape the memories.<br/>
;)</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
I…you’re not very respectful to a near-stranger.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
It was your recommendation.<br/>
That sent me to that battalion.<br/>
Payback, Choi San-ssi.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
There are worse assignments.<br/>
You’d have been bored anywhere else.<br/>
So you’re welcome, Kang Yeosang-ssi.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Will agree I was never bored.<br/>
You remember my full name?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
You startled a panther shifter into a shriek.<br/>
That etched your face and name into my brain, forever.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Oh, that.<br/>
I meant to write you earlier.<br/>
About the recommend.<br/>
But readjusting to college?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
It’s a pain to get back into.<br/>
You’re welcome, tho.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Hm. Yeah.<br/>
New topic.<br/>
Can I ask if you trained any actors or idols?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Sure.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Really? Who?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Sure—as in, you can ask.<br/>
Not telling.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
My hopes, like a phoenix, have gone up in flames.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
;D</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
You <em>are</em> the devil.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
I didn’t use to be…<br/>
My dance crew must’ve been psychic.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Dance crew?<br/>
They nicknamed you that?<br/>
Why?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
A cover early freshman year.<br/>
I got a little too into the choreo.<br/>
One video somehow went viral?<br/>
Nickname stuck.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
A viral video?<br/>
Choi San dance crew.<br/>
Let’s see.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Are you searching right now??</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Yes.<br/>
Don’t say you don’t want me to find it.<br/>
You wouldn’t have said “viral” and “video” otherwise.<br/>
Oooh.<br/>
Found it.<br/>
Huh.<br/>
The person who filmed this liked the zoom lens.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Not that one.<br/>
That one’s not a good idea.<br/>
<em>(Seen)</em></p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
What. Is with. That expression.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Damn.<br/>
I said not that one.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Have you done an internet search lately?<br/>
“that one” has ridiculous views.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
It does?</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Uh, yeah.<br/>
Like concert fancam view numbers.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
…</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
I’m tempted to send this to Wooyoungie.<br/>
But he’d tweet it.<br/>
And he has a lot of followers.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
I wish you wouldn’t.<br/>
I’m applying for this internship where that kinda video...</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
would be a possible problem?<br/>
I got it.<br/>
Plus, he’d probably cover your cover.<br/>
And then retweet.<br/>
And then it’d be a whole thing.<br/>
With his followers copying him.<br/>
Copying you.<br/>
Getting a headache thinking about it.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Uh…who is this person?</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Jung Wooyoung.<br/>
You trained us. Yunho, too.<br/>
They’re both dancers.<br/>
Which meant so many letters.<br/>
About no practice time.<br/>
How lacking they’d be after discharge<br/>
Yet where are they now?<br/>
In the U.S.<br/>
Some competitive program.<br/>
They’re both that good.<br/>
That’s how Wooyoung is big on Twitter.<br/>
Yunho’s only on Insta.<br/>
Watching the other two videos now.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
What?</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Shh.<br/>
<em>(Seen)</em><br/>
Dunno that Wooyoung could do <em>that</em>.<br/>
He’s very, very good!<br/>
But.<br/>
How are you that flexible?<br/>
Why didn’t you study dance?<br/>
You’re very expressive, Choi San-ssi.<br/>
Intense. Kinda hot.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Okay. If you’re gonna hit me with compliments like that.<br/>
Then drop the full honorifics.<br/>
It’s too weird otherwise.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Ah, did I make you uncomfortable?<br/>
I tend to say what I think.<br/>
I’m sorry.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Not uncomfortable, just surprised.<br/>
Tho why I’m surprised is beyond me.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
??</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Panther shifter jump scare.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Y’know, just for bringing that up <em>again</em>.<br/>
Fine.<br/>
San-ssi.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Yeosang-ssi.<br/>
Dance crew was fun.<br/>
But I want to follow my father and grandfather.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Family business?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
No, both in the police bureau.<br/>
The internship is related to that.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Goes with the instructor image.<br/>
A sexy dance cover, not so much.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Sexy?</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Except for that expression.<br/>
You looked possessed.<br/>
Demonic does not equal sexy.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
That’s literally why I have the nickname tho?</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Yeah, well.<br/>
Everything else is sexy, if it makes you feel better?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Better isn’t the word I’d choose.<br/>
But I do have a presentation to work on.<br/>
I should sign off.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Okay.<br/>
Leave them wanting more, San-ssi.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
…<br/>
You really don’t have any filter, do you?</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
No. But I just made myself cringe.<br/>
Goodnight!</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Goodnight.<br/>
<em>(Seen)</em></p>
<p>San stared down at his phone. Seriously no filter.</p>
<p>“Hyung?” he called.</p>
<p>“Yes?” a low voice called back through an open door.</p>
<p>“Could you come here? I need an opinion.”</p>
<p>The door opened wider and another man walked into the small living room. He gently pushed at San’s feet. “Move your legs, then, so I can sit down.”</p>
<p>San swiveled his body from a sprawl to a sitting position, then handed his phone to the other, tapping the messages on display.</p>
<p>The older man read the last few messages, a slight smile curling his lips. He scrolled to the top of the conversation, and began to read through—then his head snapped up.</p>
<p>“I did not <em>shriek</em>. When did I ever <em>shriek</em>? Teaching stealth training or any time you have known me?” he demanded.</p>
<p>San stifled a giggle. “Seonghwa-hyung,” he said placatingly, “he did startle you. And saying ‘shriek’ sounds nicer than ‘yowl’ or ‘screech’.”</p>
<p>The other scowled at him, but refocused his attention on the messages and continued to read.  San waited, biting his lip in anticipation. Come on, come on, scanning text never took as long as when you were reading and responding and waiting in real time.</p>
<p>“Panther. Shifter. Jump. Scare.”</p>
<p>Each word was precisely enunciated. San collapsed in laughter.</p>
<p>With a pained expression on his face, Seonghwa continued to read until the end. He clicked on the small profile icon, his eyebrows arching as he examined the recent photographs of Yeosang.</p>
<p>“San-ah,” he said slowly. “Were you making fun of me to get closer to this former trainee?”</p>
<p>“Um…maybe?” San replied, his voice pitching slightly high.</p>
<p>“Because of his looks?”</p>
<p>“Hyung, no. This is me. He’s attractive, but—”</p>
<p>“From what I learned in my art history survey course,” Seonghwa softly interrupted, as he continued to gaze at Yeosang’s profile photo, “this young man is not attractive. If I were an artist, and not a future museum curator, I would travel to wherever he lived and beg him to sit for a painting. He is ethereal, San. Not attractive.” He held out the phone.</p>
<p>Silently, San took it back.</p>
<p>“He had you dead to rights with the viral video reasoning. He’s clever. He seems funny. He was…very talented in stealth maneuvers. Do <em>not</em> laugh again. Being that good occasionally could be luck, being so sneaky consistently points to intelligence and an analytical brain. You would be foolish not to pursue him. Is that the opinion you called me in here for?”</p>
<p>“Yes and no.”</p>
<p>“I only have this conversation and a bitter recollection to go by. What else did you want to hear?”</p>
<p>“Do you think…do you think he was flirting with me? I couldn’t tell. Some of what he said is a maybe, but it was casual, too. He was interesting back then, more interesting now. I don’t want to assume and be left on read. Rather have him as a friend than that.”</p>
<p>Seonghwa clicked his tongue. “Then continue as is. He <em>just today </em>messaged you. This isn’t do or die decision time, San.”</p>
<p>“See? That’s why I needed your opinion!”</p>
<p>“Glad to be of help,” the other replied dryly. “Please clean up in here before you pull an all-nighter on that presentation, all right? Should’ve started it a week ago.”</p>
<p>“I had to edit the internship essay.”</p>
<p>“You re-wrote it again?”</p>
<p>“No. Not entirely. Just parts. But I sent it earlier! Right before I logged into Instagram, actually….” San’s voice trailed off as he looked down at Yeosang’s profile photo. “Oh my God, if he’s still online, he’ll see that I’m still online, and I told him I was logging off to do work. What if he thinks I think he was too cringe-y and—”</p>
<p>“San, I will repeat myself: he messaged you <em>just today</em>. I doubt he’s thinking about this as obsessively as you are. Just log out now, which you should do anyway, clean up, and do some work!”</p>
<p>He watched in amusement as the other hastily exited the app. “I’ll be in my room, working on my thesis, if another crisis arises.” Seonghwa rose from the couch and strode to his room.</p>
<p>Why, San thought grumpily, did he still have the grace of his panther when in human form? It was so unfair.</p>
<p>**********</p>
<p>
  <strong> <span class="u">(Almost one and a half years later.)</span> </strong>
</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Graduation is near.<br/>
The relief. The joy.<br/>
The release from torment—<br/>
Oh, wait.<br/>
I’m staying several more months.<br/>
As a research assistant.<br/>
The things I do when I’m asked nicely.<br/>
Did you hear back about the job?<br/>
<em>(Seen)</em><br/>
San.<br/>
You know I know you read that.<br/>
And you’re still online.<br/>
What’s wrong?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
I’m checking my list of your skills and abilities.<br/>
Stealthy, smart, high pain tolerance…did you add telepathy?</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Don’t need it.<br/>
It’s obvious.<br/>
Weeks since the interviews.<br/>
Graduation looms.<br/>
You’ve said nothing.<br/>
Therefore: something wrong.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
I got the job but...<br/>
You know hundreds of people were trying for it.<br/>
Several classmates.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Yeah.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Since there was only one spot, and I got it…</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
They’re being envious shits?</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Envy isn’t a deal.<br/>
Them saying I only got it because of family connections.<br/>
That...I’m not enjoying.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Train ticket to your college town.<br/>
Hospital bills I’d have to pay for.<br/>
I don’t think I have enough in my savings.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Kang Yeosang!<br/>
I’m going into the police bureau!<br/>
You can’t type that kind of thing to me.</p>
<p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Eh. You’re not sworn in yet.<br/>
That bureau division is picky.<br/>
Connections or no.<br/>
I mean, sure, you <em>know</em> a lot more than most.<br/>
About the whole bureau.<br/>
But that dragon during my training?<br/>
Not new to you.<br/>
You were trained.<br/>
And…<br/>
Are you somewhere I can call?<br/>
More secure-ish than chat.</p>
<p>csthedevil:<br/>
Secure…?<br/>
Yeosang?<br/>
What the…?<br/>
<em>(Seen)</em><br/>
Yes, fine, call, Seonghwa-hyung is at work.<br/>
I’m the only one in the apartment.</p>
<p>
  <strong>[NoFilter is calling.]</strong>
</p>
<p>“<em>Secure</em>?”</p>
<p>“I don’t technically have permission to say this. At least, not in written form. He probably won’t be thrilled by this conversation, but I will not have you stewing in self-doubt fueled by jealous, underqualified, gossipy ex-competitors,” Yeosang said crisply.</p>
<p>“Wow. Okay. Permission from whom?”</p>
<p>“One of my battalion’s trainers, Kim Hongjoong.”</p>
<p>“He was on my interview panel!”</p>
<p>“Yeah. He’s a team commander.”</p>
<p>“Yeosang…did <em>you</em>…that’s a connection….”</p>
<p>“Oh, thanks. San-ah, listen to me. Every assistant instructor has the same training for capture, but some are better than others. Your record was exceptional. Your bureau district internship reviews were glowing. Your recommendations for the job hyped you so hard the panel was leaning towards you before you even entered the room. Hongjoong-hyung told me so over lunch.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know how to respond to all that,” San said dazedly. “It’s a lot to process.  You know <em>the </em>Kim Hongjoong that well?”</p>
<p>Yeosang sighed.</p>
<p>“I shower you with compliments, and that’s your response? How well I know Hongjoong-hyung? Unbelievable.”</p>
<p>“No! I mean, well, yes. Thank you, Yeosang. I was just surprised.”</p>
<p>“My specialty,” the other responded with a laugh.</p>
<p>“It’s just…you know his story. He’s famous!”</p>
<p>“Yes. I lived through parts of it. I’m well-aware.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Classified.”</p>
<p>“Yeosang!”</p>
<p>“Serious about that, actually. Classified.”</p>
<p>San flopped down on his bed.</p>
<p>“Can you at least tell me why he tracked you down? To talk about me?”</p>
<p>“Tracked me—San, I live in Seoul, too. <em>You</em> live hours south of here. We’re friendly. He knows you recommended me to that battalion. He knows we know each other. He wanted my opinion about your strengths and weaknesses.”</p>
<p>“No offense, Yeosang, but this is a bureau team job capturing shifter criminals. How are you qualified to give an opinion?”</p>
<p>“Class-i-fied.”</p>
<p>“You are so annoying.”</p>
<p>“But I care. After giving my brutally honest—his words, not mine—take on your character, aptitude, and general mental health and stability, he thanked me. He said it confirmed their view of you. So, no, I didn’t contact him. My interview with him was an extra step he took because he could. Plus he owed me a lunch. And he missed my angelic face. Texts aren’t the same.”</p>
<p>“Didn’t you say he disliked that kind of thing?”</p>
<p>“It’s fine when it’s encrypted end to end.”</p>
<p>“Why do you—”</p>
<p>“Classified. Classified. Classified. Stop asking. Point in all of this, San, is that you <em>got this job on your own merits</em>. <em>You got the job!</em> Congratulations. I’m so happy for you. I wish Hongjoong-hyung hadn’t been on your interview panel, ‘cause that means you can’t be assigned to his team. He might not have gone to college, but he’s damn brilliant. In general, and at his job. But don’t worry. All the team commanders are skilled.”</p>
<p>“He told you that? Out of the blue?”</p>
<p>“No. It’s sort of…”</p>
<p>“Classified? Again?”</p>
<p>“Sort of. But my work for today is done! No more second-guessing yourself. We both get to graduate soon, new chapters in life—though <em>I</em> agreed to stick around to help finish this research. For which there is a meeting in half an hour. Catch you later.”</p>
<p>“Bye, Yeosang.”</p>
<p>Classified. San wondered if he could access any of that material once he was sworn in. Not right away, of course, but later…. He switched back to Instagram and clicked to Yeosang’s page. “Angelic face”? Weren’t angels supposed to be soothing, singing praises all day long or something? He laughed. He did feel calmer. That was soothing, of a sort.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>“Devil” instructors are a real thing in South Korea, though it was a lucky find on my part. I knew I wanted to make San an assistant instructor during Yeosang’s basic training, and when checking up on that, saw articles about idols and actors who were “devil” instructors. I had to go there.</p><p>To be clear about timeline details: <br/>San and Seonghwa were college roommates before enlisting on the same day. San after his freshman year, Seonghwa after his sophomore year. Both being competitive, they took the highest scores in their training class, and were both promoted to assistant instructors at the same training facility.<br/>Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Yunho enlisted after their sophomore years. They met during basic training, but formed a fast bond. Wooyoung and Yunho dropped out of college to pursue dance professionally. <br/>When Yeosang first messages San on Instagram, they are at the same point academically, mid-way through their junior years.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Using Seoul National University's online academic calendar as a guide, this chapter begins in early May.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ten weeks later, San felt anything but soothed. He’d graduated, been in bureau barracks and in the field for constant education and training, and now he was apartment hunting. In Seoul. With a preference for someplace near Gangnam, where <em>his</em> division was located, but the prices were hideous, and the few people looking for roommates didn’t want a cop living with them. He’d have to look further away, and settle for long commutes. He sunk down further in the café armchair. At least the bubble tea was unbelievably good, and the slice of cake—suddenly he smirked, sat up, and took a careful picture of what remained. He posted it after adding #worththeprice, #absolutelysinful, and #chocolatedecadence to the caption box. He knew Yeosang got alerts whenever he posted; he’d set his own preferences for Yeosang’s account to the same.</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
You’re at my favorite café.</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
Yes.</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Did you know.<br/>
That particular cake.<br/>
They only make twice a week.<br/>
And it’s almost always sold out.<br/>
By the time I can get there.<br/>
This is a miraculous day.</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
Um, okay? I didn’t know all that.<br/>
I’m not as invested in sweets as you.<br/>
It looked delicious and I wanted consolation.<br/>
No-go on roommates anywhere near Gangnam.</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Another reason we’re friends!<br/>
The power of delicious treats.<br/>
Do they have any left?</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
Dunno.</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Well, check.</p><p>San rolled his eyes, but stood up and squinted at the display case.</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
There seem to be two pieces left.<br/>
They might have more in the bakery area.</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
That isn’t how they work.<br/>
Those two are it this late in the day.<br/>
Go buy one for me.</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
Why would I do that?</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Sanie-yah, please buy Yeosangie a slice of cake.</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
Chat aegyo?<br/>
I will block you.</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
If you think I wasn’t revolted.<br/>
Just typing that out.<br/>
You’re crazy.<br/>
Just go buy me a damn slice before they’re gone.</p><p>csthedevil:<br/>
For what reason?</p><p>nightmodegamer:<br/>
Because I’m ten minutes from the café.<br/>
It would be nice of you.</p><p>San bolted upright. No, wait. Ten minutes. He hurried over to the counter. One person ahead of him. Please, please, please. They ordered coffee and cookies. He sighed in relief.</p><p>“I’d like another slice of the chocolate cake, please? My friend is almost here and he loves it.”</p><p>Two minutes later, he was back in his chair. The other slice of cake and a glass of water on the table in front of the armchair across from him. Right across from him. He rapidly texted the scenario to Seonghwa.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You live in the same city, it was bound to happen.<br/>
Do not tell me you didn’t want to meet him.<br/>
That would be a lie.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I’m not ready.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Then you shouldn’t have uploaded a photo from his favorite café.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How was I supposed to guess he’d be nearby??</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Perhaps it’s destiny to meet this way.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Destiny? This isn’t a drama.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You’re the one texting me in a panic.<br/>
Episode 3 level drama.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I have no idea what that means and I’m running out of time, hyung!<br/>
He’s going to</p><p>San felt a light tap on his shoulder and jerked to the side. Yeosang waved his hands in the air and smiled.</p><p>“Surprise, San-ah. Ooh, chocolate!”</p><p>San blinked, and watched as Yeosang curled up in the opposite armchair with the plate in his hands. He continued to watch the other in silence as he reverently took a bite of the two-layer chocolate cake, tiny dark chocolate shavings and cookie crumbs scattered on the chocolate buttercream frosting. His eyes closed as he chewed and swallowed. San felt peculiar. He glanced down at his phone screen, quietly typed “he’s here,” and locked the phone. He looked up to see Yeosang fishing his own phone out of a pocket while delicately balancing the plate in his other hand.</p><p>“Do you…need help?”</p><p>Yeosang flashed another smile at him. “No, thanks. Have this down to a science. Just a minute.”</p><p>Now fascinated, San watched as Yeosang tilted the plate one way then another, snapped a picture, swiped through filters, typed a caption, shared the photo, then slid the phone back into his pocket.</p><p>“There,” he said. “Had to memorialize the occasion.” He refocused his attention on the cake and happily began to eat.</p><p>San’s phone screen lit up with a notification.</p><p>“Go ahead,” Yeosang murmured between bites.</p><p>San clicked through and read the caption. Several times.</p><p> </p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Luck is on my side today! Thank you, @csthedevil. I agree with your #absolutelysinful description. #IRLbetterthanphotos #chocolate #chocolateislife</p>
</blockquote><p>His phone snarled with a text alert.</p><p><strong>JumpScare</strong>:<br/>
I was expecting a post, but <em>not</em> that caption. Good luck.</p><p>“Was that a growl?” Yeosang put down his mostly finished cake to reach for the water.</p><p>San breathed out slowly and quietly, watching him drink. He needed to calm down. He was <em>not</em> living out a drama scene. “It’s supposed to sound like a snarl, but I guess it sounds more like a growl.”</p><p>“Why?” the other asked politely, as he set his glass back onto the table.</p><p>“Seonghwa-hyung.”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Yep. I changed it after I moved here. It’s cute.” San grinned.</p><p>“Just because you’re the devil doesn’t mean it’s safe to tempt fate.”</p><p>“Are you <em>ever</em> going to let that go?”</p><p>“After all our messaging, texting, and talking—and now meeting you in person—I’d have to say no.”</p><p>“Do I want to know the reasoning behind that decision?” San asked warily.</p><p>The other shrugged.</p><p>“You know not knowing is going to bother me.”</p><p>Yeosang smiled.</p><p>“I give. Why aren’t you ever going to let the devil thing go?”</p><p>“Because while I’m certain there are people who’d sell their souls to <em>look</em> like you, there are more who’d sell their souls to be <em>with</em> you. It’s too entertaining to let go.”</p><p>San’s throat felt horribly dry. “It’s…funny to imagine either?”</p><p>“Not funny to imagine, <em>easy </em>to imagine.” Yeosang’s eyes sparkled with merriment. “The entertainment comes from me actually knowing someone like that, like you. I’ve thought it before, but meeting you in person makes it more real, of course. I’m going to get something else to drink. Do you want anything?”</p><p>Temporarily winning his internal battle, San calmly asked what he was getting.</p><p>“Oh, I don’t know. Everything here is, as you said, sinful. I’ll see what draws my attention.”</p><p>Yeosang hopped up from the armchair and made his way to the counter line. San grabbed for his phone.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Seonghwa-hyung, help.<br/>
Help.<br/>
Help.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
What’s wrong? Are you okay?</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
He won’t drop the devil thing.<br/>
Do you know WHY he won’t drop the devil thing?????</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
It’s Yeosang. You’ve shown me conversations you’ve had with him before.<br/>
So, no, I have no idea why. His mind works differently,<br/>
but you seem to be losing yours.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You’d lose your mind too if<br/>
Oh my God I can’t type this</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
San?</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Breathing is a thing did you know it was a thing?<br/>
And I don’t know <em>which way he meant it</em>.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Choi San. Get it together. What did he say?<br/>
Wait. Where is he? Why are you typing to me?<br/>
Did he leave?</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No, he’s in line for something sinful.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Should my mind be wandering down certain paths, or…?</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I <em>don’t know</em>. One person in front of him.<br/>
I’ll just type it. Hyung. Just. Just.<br/>
He said he wouldn’t drop the devil thing<br/>
Since there were people who’d sell their souls to LOOK LIKE ME<br/>
BUT</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Why did you stop typing?<br/>
Do not leave me hanging like that.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Sorry had to take a breath<br/>
I looked up<br/>
The barista is talking to him all serious<br/>
I derailed</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Ask later. Tell me now what he said.<br/>
Stop being an Episode 10 cliffhanger.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Okay fine it’s a drama!<br/>
Because where the hell else would someone tell me<br/>
that there were people who’d sell their souls to look like me<br/>
but more people who’d sell their souls to be WITH ME</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
………</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Hyung?</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
……</p><p><strong>Me: </strong><br/>
Hyung, he’s smiling at the barista.<br/>
She looks sad.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Who <em>says</em> that?</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
See me and my confusion and shock.<br/>
But wait! It gets better. Or not better.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Yes?</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
He was all happy when he said it. Almost laughing.<br/>
Not because he thought it was funny.<br/>
Because he thought it ENTERTAINING THAT HE ACTUALLY<br/>
KNOWS SOMEONE LIKE ME.<br/>
Is he unaware that HE exists?<br/>
What the actual hell.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
San. You’re in your mid-twenties.<br/>
You’re a newly trained police bureau officer.<br/>
Act like it, and calm down.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That’s all you can say?</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Yes.</p><p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Seonghwa-hyung.</p><p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
This is like a hunter and its prey, but not.<br/>
Don’t let him see you panic.<br/>
It’s Yeosang. You don’t know which way he meant it.<br/>
<em>Why is he like this?</em></p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
<em>I don’t know.</em>
</p><p>“He probably confuses the gods,” San muttered, tapping the side of his phone.</p><p>“Who does?”</p><p>San did <em>not</em> snap his head up. He was certain if he had, the speed would have broken his spine and he would prefer to live. He slowly raised his head to look back at Yeosang sipping a bubble tea.</p><p>“How long have you been sitting there?”</p><p>“A bit. You seemed intent on your texting. I didn’t want to interrupt. However, I have good news! When I was in line, I texted Wooyoung—I’d been headed to his place when you posted—to ask if he was still looking for a flatmate and he is!”</p><p>“I appreciate it, Yeosang, but didn’t you once say he lives in actual Gangnam? I can’t afford rent like that.”</p><p>“No rent. His parents gave him the apartment when he came back from the U.S. When he and Yunho set up their dance studio? Which they also gave him. Good sense, because how else do you start up a studio from scratch in Seoul? Talent is everywhere, but a big studio in Gangnam? His apartment is close by since he works late. You’ll have odd hours sometimes, too. He won’t mind.”</p><p>“If he has all that, and he’s not even there that much, why does he need a roommate?”</p><p>“He gets lonely,” Yeosang replied simply, then carefully set down his cup. “There are, uh, some drawbacks.”</p><p>“Figures. Otherwise he’d have a line-up of people.”</p><p>“It’s not that he’s picky,” Yeosang protested. “It’s that most people have regular hours, and since he doesn’t, it bothers them. And, well, the music.”</p><p>“He makes music, too?”</p><p>“No, he listens to it. Loudly. His parents had the entire apartment soundproofed, so neighbors don’t care, but a flatmate would have to tolerate it. He can be persuaded to use Airpods, but…”</p><p>“His apartment and why should he have to?” San asked mildly.</p><p>“Yeah. You could always buy noise-canceling headphones,” Yeosang said hopefully. “And like I said, no rent. Just a share of utilities and everything, like fees towards the swimming pool and the gym—”</p><p>“There’s a gym?”</p><p>“It’s a luxury apartment building, of course it has a gym.”</p><p>“A gym right nearby….” San stared at Yeosang.</p><p>“A very nice, very up-to-date, very clean gym,” the other said coaxingly. “You could go whenever you wanted, day or night. They have personal trainers. Attractive ones.”</p><p>San closed his eyes. Seonghwa’s advice had been good. Don’t show panic. Yeosang hadn’t meant what he’d said earlier <em>that</em> <em>way</em>. He simply had no filter. And San would always choose to keep his friendship safe, than risk losing it. He opened his eyes to find said friend inches from his face.</p><p>“Will you <em>stop</em> creeping up on me? It’s unnerving.” San shoved at him.</p><p>“Promise to visit Wooyoung with me and check the place out.”</p><p>“If I can see the gym, too, and it’s as nice as you say…plus, of course, no rent and being so close to my division? I can put up with a lot.”</p><p>“You and gyms.”</p><p>“To be on a team tracking and capturing shifter criminals, strength is important.” San retorted. “And I know you work out, too, so don’t mock.”</p><p>“I am aware,” Yeosang said dryly. “But you <em>like</em> the gym. I tolerate it. I think you’ll get along with Wooyoung, too. It’s been years since you last saw him. He’s fun.”</p><p>“Hm. We’ll see. When do we go?”</p><p>“Now’s good,” the other replied, with a slight glance at the counter. San followed his eyes, and was startled by the small glare the previously sad barista was aiming at <em>him</em>. What on earth had happened in that discussion? He opened his mouth to inquire, but Yeosang shook his head.</p><p>“Okay,” he agreed, instead. “Show me the way.”</p><p>Wooyoung’s apartment building was a short subway trip away. As they walked through the doors, the desk receptionist peered at Yeosang then waved and buzzed them through.</p><p>“Okay, so normally, the people who live here are notified of visitors and they come downstairs or, well, send someone downstairs, so you won’t ever get people just barging in on you.”</p><p>“Aren’t we doing that to Wooyoung?” San asked as they waited at the elevator.</p><p>“No, because he knows we’re coming…plus the entire front desk staff knows who I am, and they have his authorization to let me in whenever. His parents own the building. He can mostly do what he wants.”</p><p>“His parents own the building?”</p><p>“I said they gave him the apartment.”</p><p>“That’s different from them owning the building.”</p><p>“Well, both are true. Come on!” Yeosang pulled San into the elevator and pressed the topmost button.</p><p>“Yeosang. Does he live in the penthouse?”</p><p>“Uh…yes.”</p><p>“Oh my God.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“This isn’t a roommate situation. He has a penthouse!”</p><p>“You might not have noticed, but I did say ‘flatmate,’ not ‘roommate’.”</p><p>“Oh, well, then! Yeosang, how can he possibly want a policeman sharing his penthouse? Wouldn’t I kill his vibe?”</p><p>“You have a better chance of breaking the sound barrier while jogging than killing his vibe.”</p><p>“I’m not sure that makes sense.”</p><p>“It will when you meet him.”</p><p>“The gym better be amazing.”</p><p>Yeosang laughed.</p><p>“It’s on the floor below.”</p><p>“You said his apartment was soundproofed so his neighbors wouldn’t complain. A gym isn’t a neighbor.”</p><p>“The gym is used by fellow building dwellers, otherwise known as neighbors? And the people who live in this building would strongly object to his music selections being played at his favorite volume. Would cut into the serenity of their yoga classes.”</p><p>“They have yoga.”</p><p>The elevator hummed to a stop and they both walked out. The hallway was short, leading directly to one door.</p><p>“They have all sorts of classes. I promise we’ll give you a tour.”</p><p>Yeosang halted in front of the door, slid open the passcode protector, and tapped in the entry key.</p><p>“How often do you come here?” San asked, as the other pushed the door open.</p><p>Any answer he might have made was lost in the music filling the apartment. San stared at Yeosang with wide eyes. Yeosang grinned, then beckoned him in. He pulled two pairs of slippers from a shelf near the door, one worn smooth, one still wrapped in plastic. They left their shoes on the floor, and continued inwards, past a small dining room and a gleaming kitchen, down a hallway with several closed doors, up to—</p><p>San stopped and pointed at the spiral staircase. Yeosang gave a half-shrug, and began walking up. San shook his head in amazement and followed.</p><p>On the second level, the music was louder. Could he see molecules vibrating? He wasn’t sure. Three doors led off the hallway, two open. One led to an enormous bedroom, and another to a rather large guest room. The third door was shut, with a color key panel set in the wall. He raised an eyebrow at Yeosang, who mouthed the words “good manners.” He pressed the blue key three times, then the red. He waited. In less than fifteen seconds, the music cut off, and shortly after that, the door was flung open, and a platinum-haired young man about their height grabbed Yeosang and pulled him into a tight embrace.</p><p>San was not sure if he would like Wooyoung.</p><p>Yeosang laughed and hugged him back, then turned to San.</p><p>“Wooyoung, Choi San-ssi. San, Jung Wooyoung-ssi. Though if you’re going to share an apartment, honorifics would be strange. And we’re all same years, so.”</p><p>A sweet smile from Wooyoung reminded San why they were here. </p><p>“Hello, Wooyoung-ssi. Was that from Changbin’s solo album?”</p><p>The smile deepened, and a dimple appeared. He briefly wondered if the theory of like attracting like might not be true. Wooyoung was gorgeous. Not Yeosang’s level of beautiful, but then…he’d yet to see anyone else who was.</p><p>“You like Changbin’s rap?”</p><p>“I do. I like his whole group, but his solo work is impressive. He goes hard.”</p><p>Wooyoung beamed at him, then at Yeosang. “I like him! Let’s show him the sights.” He gestured behind him. “My home dance studio. The color code flashes the lights so I can unlock the door. Would never hear a knock over the music. It’s not this loud all the time.”</p><p>Yeosang snorted.</p><p>“Okay, it gets loud, but not <em>this</em> loud. I work out new routines and lessons here, when I’m not at the main studio. Truly,” Wooyoung stared at Yeosang with pursed lips, “it’s not usually this loud. I promise.”</p><p>Which was good to know. Music at that volume would make noise-canceling headphones a joke.</p><p>“But the album just came out, and I <em>had</em> to listen to it! Have you heard the title track? It’s fantastic. I could play it now—” Wooyoung turned to go back into the studio. Yeosang hauled him back by the shirt.</p><p>“Tour first.”</p><p>Wooyoung shrugged and closed the studio door. “I have my own code for entrance, but three blues and a red gets the music off and the door open. Just don’t do it unless you have to?”</p><p>“I wouldn’t dream of it.”</p><p>He got a dazzling smile in return. Was this guy made of smiles?</p><p>Wooyoung spun around and strode down the hallway.</p><p>“My room. Guest room. My family stays there, on their rare visits—I usually go to them. More often friends crash for the night. Usually Yunho—did you fill him in, Yeosangie?”</p><p>“Mostly.”</p><p>“If we get an idea and wind up practicing in my little studio, or we’re playing video games real late, or we’re too drunk to be bothered, he sleeps over.”</p><p>Wooyoung led them downstairs. He flung open doors as they walked past.</p><p>“Guest room. Guest room. Bathroom for people just stopping by—all the bedrooms have their own separate ones. Washer-dryer room. Guest room. Office—barely use it, but my parents like me to have one, and, well, it’s okay. Nice view of the city. Kitchen. Dining room. Living room. Other doors are closets, storage, you know. What else?”</p><p>“Gym,” Yeosang said firmly.</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>“He’s an addict.”</p><p>“Yeosang, I am <em>not</em>.”</p><p>“Gym is to you what chicken is to me.”</p><p>Wooyoung looked San up and down. “Huh. I see it. Gym, then!”</p><p>Switching from slippers back to shoes, the three of them walked in procession to the elevator, Wooyoung bouncing every other step. He halted abruptly.</p><p>“Oh! I forgot to ask an important question.”</p><p>“How much I can pay per month? Well—"</p><p>“No, no. We can work that out. I need to know something <em>vital</em> about your character.”</p><p>“Like…what?”</p><p>“How do you have Yeosang saved on your phone?”</p><p>“How do I…how does that tell you something vital about my character?”</p><p>“It just does! Yeosang <em>never </em>saved anyone’s numbers with names until I taught him how <em>important</em> it was.”</p><p>“I lost a bet.”</p><p>“But you learned a lesson!”</p><p>“Eh.”</p><p>“Um…do I need to show you the actual contact, or…?”</p><p>“Oh, no! Just tell me.”</p><p>“If it’s that important, okay. I have him saved as ‘NoFilter’.”</p><p>Wooyoung burst into high-pitched laughter. Bright smiles, easily excited, and <em>loud</em> laughter. Kind of cute, all around. Not bad for a flatmate. </p><p>Yeosang gave him a <em>look</em>, but waited for Wooyoung’s laughter to subside before saying anything. “And you nag <em>me</em> about dropping the ‘devil’ thing.” He stalked to the elevator and pressed the button.</p><p>“But it’s perfect, Yeosangie! It’s so you.”</p><p>“Only around friends do I refuse to exert the effort. None of you deserve it.”</p><p>Thus silenced, the other two followed him into the elevator when the doors opened.</p><p>Once on the floor below, San looked around in admiration. Weight machines, free weights, cardio equipment, two rooms with posted calendars of class offerings, punching bags, and none of it was crowded. Subdued music played in the background. Wooyoung had nodded at the staff but declined their assistance.</p><p>“The pool is on the ground floor,” Wooyoung piped up. “Me, I have a trainer three mornings a week. She’s brutal.”</p><p>“He worships her,” Yeosang whispered to San.</p><p>“I can still hear you. But! She’s worthy of adoration. She’s beautiful and absolutely terrifying.”</p><p>“And she makes him feel tall,” Yeosang added.</p><p>Wooyoung glared at him. “I am not short.”</p><p>“Did I say you were? Like the gym, San?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Yeosang sighed at his lost look. “The equipment isn’t roped off. Go be a good host and encouraging flatmate-to-be, Wooyoung, and guide him around. I’m being summoned.” He waved a hand at a cluster of older ladies in one of the rooms, trying to gain his attention, and strolled away.</p><p>San gave his possible future flatmate a questioning look.</p><p>“Their husbands work all day long. Their kids are grown. If he shows up when they’re here, any chance of a work-out is lost. He’s too polite to cut short their conversations. Too kind, too. You do know that, right?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Good. I don’t mind sharing an apartment with someone in love with Yeosang. Most people are, at least a little bit. But I do not like people who only pay attention to his face.”</p><p>San took a quick step back. Wooyoung grabbed his arm.</p><p>“You’re gonna fall on the equipment and hurt yourself if you’re not careful. Chill. I won’t tattle. It’s your business, not mine.”</p><p>“It’s…not?”</p><p>“Only to the extent of Yeosang’s involvement.” He chuckled. “Nothing’s going on to deserve that ice-cold glare when I gave him a hug. Ah, let’s walk a little further away, okay, like I’m actually giving you a tour.”</p><p>The two made their way past more equipment.</p><p>“I’m not in love with him.” San coughed. “That’s unworkable. He’s my friend. My sharp-witted, kind, clever, maddeningly appealing friend.”</p><p>“Maddeningly?” Wooyoung echoed. “Interesting word choice.”</p><p>“That’s not—it isn’t—he’s never shown a single sign of interest, and I’ve always known I’d rather have him as a friend than lose him by confessing to a one-sided…thing. Do <em>not</em> call it love.”</p><p>“He trusts you. He wouldn’t have suggested you as a flatmate for me if he didn’t.”</p><p>“Another reason never to say anything,” San said firmly.</p><p>“He just met you today and he trusts you that much.”</p><p>“We’ve been talking online and on the phone for almost 20 months. That’s solid enough for trust.”</p><p>“Mmm. Yes, you talk nearly every day. I know.” Wooyoung grinned. “Your name has been mentioned many times. That points to <em>something</em>. You sure he’s never said anything that would prove your one-sided theory might be…incorrect?”</p><p>“It’s Yeosang. You know how he is: nearly unreadable unless he decides to be direct. When he is direct, no holds barred. Since he’s never said anything straight-forwardly, that tells me enough.”</p><p>“You didn’t feel like anything changed today, after meeting him in person?”</p><p>San hesitated. “He’s a little more confusing. That’s all.”</p><p>“If you’re sure…okay, then.” Wooyoung paused. “Word of advice: work on your game face. He’s not that into skinship, but it does happen, and your <em>interest</em> was easy to figure out from how you reacted.”</p><p>San bit his lip, and nodded.</p><p>A chorus of goodbyes sounded from the small room, as Yeosang bowed, and began his return to them.</p><p>“So,” he said, when he stood nearby. “We done here? Please say we’re done here. I’m hungry.”</p><p>“Chicken?” Wooyoung asked.</p><p>“Yes, please.”</p><p>“Should I…?”</p><p>“Leave? No.” Yeosang pulled on San’s arm. “Come with.”</p><p>Wooyoung bounded ahead. As they reached the elevator, he pushed the button and turned to his friend.</p><p>“Yeosang, I’ll accept your blind-date flatmate if you answer my last, very important question.”</p><p>San held his breath. Wooyoung rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>“How do you have San saved in your phone?”</p><p>“As of right now, or earlier?”</p><p>“Oooh, variations. All.”</p><p>Yeosang nodded.</p><p>“Chronologically, he’s been ‘TheDevil,’ ‘San,’ and ‘Sanie,’ but I changed it again at the café.”</p><p>“What’s he saved as now?”</p><p>“Sin.” Yeosang smiled at the other’s startled expression. “You started it, San. You and your ‘absolutelysinful’ hashtag. Did you see that post, Wooyoung? It was a <em>taunt</em>.”</p><p>His or mine, San wondered silently. Sin? Because of the chocolate? Because of <em>him</em>? Would anything Yeosang said ever be clear in meaning? Most likely not.</p><p>“San. San. You’re spacing out.”</p><p>“Sorry. I don’t remember you doing that.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t. You were texting your friend.”</p><p>“Ah,” San said faintly. When he was panicking to Seonghwa about the devil remarks.</p><p>Wooyoung turned to him. “Flatmates?”</p><p>“Uh…yeah. That sounds…good.”</p><p>“Excellent. You did well today, Yeosang. Thank you.”</p><p>“You’re welcome.”</p><p>The elevator doors slid open.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I actually sketched out a drawing of Wooyoung's apartment. Not to the point of square footage, just so I know what's where. But imagine BIG. ;)</p><p>Remember, by this point, we are several years into the future. I was theorizing/imagining Changbin of Stray Kids having a solo album. (Inspired by seeing Wooyoung's attempt to sing/rap in that VLive.)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So though I did base some timeline details off a real Korean university academic schedule, the uni Yeosang graduated from and is doing research at? Totally made up. Campus doesn't even resemble my own.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After several weeks, San settled into a routine. When his schedule allowed, he’d work out in the mornings, and if not, before bed. He and Wooyoung didn’t see each other that frequently, though they’d had a couple game nights with Yunho and Yeosang. The first time one of his workouts overlapped with one of Wooyoung’s trainer sessions, he nearly dropped his barbell.</p>
<p>“You okay, Choi San-ssi?” his spotter asked, already supporting the weight.</p>
<p>“Got distracted.”</p>
<p>The other man’s eyes flickered to Wooyoung and his trainer, and he laughed lightly as he helped San shift the barbell back into its holding rack.</p>
<p>“She’s a stunner, but not worth a torn muscle, or worse, during bench press reps.”</p>
<p>“She’s <em>tiny</em>.”</p>
<p>“Oh. That, too. Don’t underestimate her, though.”</p>
<p>“I won’t,” he said. “Nothing seems hurt, but I was nearly done anyway. Thank you, again, for spotting me.”</p>
<p>“Happy to help. It’s what they pay me for.” The other smiled as he walked away.</p>
<p>San wiped down the bench, grabbed his bag, and with one eye on Wooyoung and his rapid responses to his trainer’s commands, made his way to a floor mat to stretch and cool down. Every time he peeked at the duo, he had to suppress a giggle—he had <em>never</em> thought to see Wooyoung tower over someone the way Yunho towered over the rest of them.</p>
<p>He pulled his bag towards him and grabbed his cell phone.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yeosang.<br/>
You busy?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
No. But aren’t you?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Afternoon/evening shifts this week.<br/>
At the gym.</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Good for you?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It’s later than usual. For me.<br/>
Wooyoung is here with his trainer.<br/>
How do I walk past them with a normal expression?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
You can’t.<br/>
You’ll fail.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me: </strong><br/>
You’re unhelpful.</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
I laughed a solid minute.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
He didn’t attack you?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
An attack would interrupt a session.<br/>
She does not allow that.<br/>
Ever.<br/>
You could fall on the floor laughing.<br/>
He would ignore you.<br/>
She’d keep counting reps.<br/>
She’s a personal trainer.<br/>
But she <em>owns</em> him.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Like…?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
No.<br/>
She=goddess.<br/>
He=temple acolyte.<br/>
He hasn’t had anyone over yet?<br/>
Like overnight?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No…is that common?<br/>
You didn’t mention that.</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
It isn’t common.<br/>
Or uncommon.<br/>
His hours and habits?<br/>
Make for flings<br/>
Just been a while, is all.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Am I in the way?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Nah.<br/>
Never seen anyone stop him.<br/>
He has the entire upstairs.<br/>
Remember?<br/>
And you’d see unfamiliar shoes.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That isn’t a help.<br/>
They could belong to a friend or family.</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Do use logic.<br/>
Family or friends would be downstairs.<br/>
Or the studio.<br/>
But if no loud music.<br/>
And no one is downstairs?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Honestly, I didn’t think he’d be so careful?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
I am texting.<br/>
As I walk to the library.<br/>
Do not make me laugh and trip.<br/>
It’s not caution.<br/>
More comfort.<br/>
His bed is nicer than his sofa.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
….</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
What?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How do you know?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
He holds parties.<br/>
From time to time.<br/>
Sometimes the people?<br/>
Too drunk to send home.<br/>
Not enough guest rooms.<br/>
If I’m there?<br/>
I’m his roommate.<br/>
10/10 would recommend.<br/>
Except those times, he’s mine.<br/>
Or I’m his.<br/>
Whichever.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
What about Yunho?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
He has his own life.<br/>
Not always there.<br/>
But they <em>never </em>share beds.<br/>
He rolls, he flattens.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Tempted to change his contact to "Steamroller".<br/>
But then I’ll think about it.<br/>
So no.</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
You asked.<br/>
I answered.<br/>
I am not responsible.<br/>
For your following thoughts.<br/>
Almost at library.<br/>
Couple hours of research.<br/>
Would message you later.<br/>
But you’ll be at work.</p>
<p>San briefly hesitated. With his job, and Yeosang’s research, they couldn’t text much. He felt like he was talking with him less often, in general, since he’d moved to Seoul. And he didn’t want to think about Wooyoung and Yeosang sharing a bed together. For any reason. Especially at a drunken party. Dammit.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Could I meet you on campus for lunch?<br/>
Before my shift?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
If you don’t mind eating outside.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Where do I go?<br/>
When?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
There’s shady trees and open space here.<br/>
Near the library.<br/>
Look up the campus map online.<br/>
Noon good?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It works. My shift starts at 2:00.<br/>
How big is this shady area?</p>
<p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Use your investigative skills to find me.<br/>
:D<br/>
See you then.<br/>
Oh! You can bring food for both of us.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Sure. See you then.</p>
<p>He glanced over again at Wooyoung and his trainer, and a smile tugged at his mouth. Wooyoung was dripping sweat, his trainer tapping a finger on her arm. Counting reps, indeed. They weren’t together. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. He’d have known. He paused. Which they…neither they. Just stop, San. Stop.</p>
<p>He determinedly gathered everything together, and quietly left the gym with an ignored wave of acknowledgment at Wooyoung. Two hours to shower, change, figure out <em>where</em> he was meeting Yeosang, buy food, get to the meet-up, and then <em>find him</em>. More like a scavenger hunt than an investigation.</p>
<p>A little after 12:00, he was walking around trees with caution. He really didn’t think Yeosang would silently drop from a branch as he had during training, but—there, a flash of gold. The convenience store bag almost slipped from his grip as San stared at him, sitting against a tree, face tilted towards the sun, eyes closed. Golden hair and pale golden skin, in sharp contrast to his black clothes. One of his hands rested on a satchel, fingertips drumming a beat.</p>
<p>Breathe and move, he reminded himself.</p>
<p>Impossible as it was to steal up on the other wearing his uniform—it would look undignified—San managed to get close to the tree before Yeosang opened his eyes.</p>
<p>He smiled and patted the ground. San cautiously sank down next to him. Grass-stains, too, would be undignified. He handed over the plastic bag.</p>
<p>Yeosang peered inside.</p>
<p>“Samgak kimbap?”</p>
<p>“We’re eating outside, I’m wearing a uniform. I can’t risk messy food.”</p>
<p>“Did I complain? No. It’s free food. And I like samgak kimbap.” He unwrapped a triangle and tore into it.</p>
<p>San reached for one as well, but paused before peeling back the plastic wrap.</p>
<p>“Yeosang…your hair.”</p>
<p>“Mm?” he said, as he chewed and swallowed.</p>
<p>“It’s…gold?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“When?”</p>
<p>“Two days ago.” He took another bite.</p>
<p>“And no selca?” San looked at him incredulously. “I mean, this is the first time I’ve seen your hair this shade...ever. Just brown before. And black, in basic training.”</p>
<p>“Did you bring anything to drink?”</p>
<p>“Water.”</p>
<p>“We’re being nutritious today.”</p>
<p>“Balances out the days of sweets.”</p>
<p>Yeosang made a face at him, then offered a bottle to San before uncapping his own and drinking.</p>
<p>“Your hair?” San prompted, as he began on his kimbap.</p>
<p>“If you look back far enough on Instagram, you’ll see I had <em>pink</em> hair for a while. Same reasoning for going gold this time—I got bored with my reflection. I’m not as adventurous as Hongjoong-hyung.” He smiled briefly. “But I like it. And no selca because I wanted it to be a surprise. It’s been so long since it’s been anything but brown, I knew the reactions would be worth it. Though yours was rather toned down. Oh, well.”</p>
<p>Only because your eyes were closed, San thought. Thankfully.</p>
<p>As he unwrapped his second kimbap, he glanced around. The students passing back and forth gave him a surge of relief that these days were past him.</p>
<p>“What are you doing, research-wise? You never did explain.”</p>
<p>“Because it’s an irrational premise and I’m only doing the work to ensure the researcher doesn’t destroy the evidence disproving his theory.”</p>
<p>“That sounds like a career risk.”</p>
<p>“To him? Not yet.”</p>
<p>“I meant to you. Shouldn’t you be working with people who will <em>help</em> your future career?”</p>
<p>“An unusual strategy doesn’t mean failure. Don’t worry. This is planned.” Yeosang grabbed another kimbap. “I <em>do</em> like these…but they’re so much better with ramyun.”</p>
<p>“You said we were eating outside. If you’d wanted other food, we could have met in a cafeteria—”</p>
<p>“Eating in a cafeteria?” Yeosang scoffed. “Only when forced. Was the food good at your university?”</p>
<p>“It was edible.”</p>
<p>“It’s also very loud in cafeterias. I wouldn’t be able to hear your voice very well. I like your voice.”</p>
<p>San sighed.</p>
<p>Yeosang took a large bite of kimbap, chewed, and swallowed. “I bet you’ll have more food when you get to work.”</p>
<p>“There is a canteen,” he admitted.</p>
<p>Yeosang quirked an eyebrow at him, but said nothing more, and they continued to eat in silence. A light breeze sprung up. When they had finished, and were sipping water, San remembered he hadn’t gotten an answer.</p>
<p>“What evidence are you trying to save from destruction?”</p>
<p>“That genetic manipulation cannot ‘turn off’ shifting,” Yeosang said calmly.</p>
<p>“There’s an actual <em>researcher</em> at this university who believes shifting can be, what, deactivated?” San demanded.</p>
<p>“Mm-hm. Though his proposal only discussed application to convicted shifter criminals.”</p>
<p>“If it worked with any shifter, it would work on all.”</p>
<p>Yeosang smiled.</p>
<p>“That would annihilate treaties across the world,” San whispered in horror.</p>
<p>“It would,” the other said agreeably, “if his theories were sound. Sadly for his greatly admired academic reputation, they aren’t. But it’s convenient to have someone so well-known screw up so badly no one will touch the topic for decades.”</p>
<p>“You’re certain?”</p>
<p>“San, he refuses to admit an intrinsic part of what being a shifter <em>is</em>: the hell-if-we-know-how-it-happens <em>magic</em>.”</p>
<p>“This world has dragons and the Loch Ness twins—science can’t even explain where all that mass goes when they shift to human form. How can anyone ignore magic?”</p>
<p>“It makes them uncomfortable. So his research studies bears, giant snakes, lions, wolves, the more ordinary, intimidating shifters. He focuses on genes, and ignores the fact they simply <em>shift</em>. They don’t know how it works. They don’t know why some tigers are tigers and some are shifters. It just is. It’s thoroughly entertaining watching his frustration grow week by week.” He grinned.</p>
<p>Shouting began within the shaded area. Instinct had San on his feet, moving and looking around. Four young women arguing. Huh. He turned back to Yeosang, slowly standing, his eyes fixed on them. Puzzled, he turned back. Two women were shouting at each other—then shoving each other—the two others pulling them apart—then one broke free and was sprinting towards <em>them</em>. He stepped back and, seeing Yeosang’s colorless face, reached out a hand. When it was gripped tightly, his alarm grew and he moved even closer. The panting young woman abruptly halted a few feet away. She beamed at Yeosang.</p>
<p>“Yeosang-ssi! I saw you. She said. I couldn’t. Talk to you. But I had to.” She hunched to one side, catching her breath. “Please. Can I have. Your number?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know you, and I don’t give my number to strangers. You should listen to your friend,” he said softly.</p>
<p>“We wouldn’t be. Strangers. If we had. Each other’s numbers. Just because—”</p>
<p>Her words were cut off as the second woman, who had chased after her, yanked on her arm and spun her away.</p>
<p>“Bitna,” she spat out. “I said Kang Yeosang is off-limits. Are you so desperate you’ll go after my ex?”</p>
<p>“Ex means ex, Gyeowool. You didn’t want him. I do.”</p>
<p>“You wouldn’t for long.” The slender girl pushed her hair back and looked at Yeosang with a bored expression. “Nice new hair.” Her eyes narrowed on San. “Who’s he?”</p>
<p>“A friend,” Yeosang responded, his voice still quiet.</p>
<p>“Yeosang-ssi, we could be friends.”</p>
<p>“Bitna, back off. He’d never date you. Not after me,” Gyeowool said with a smug smile.</p>
<p>San was debating. Option A. Option B. Yeosang was squeezing the circulation out of his hand. Even though he now knew their friendship would never change to anything else, he didn’t think the other would mind what he said or did if he got them away from these two. Right.</p>
<p>He looked at his watch. “Yeosang-ah, my shift starts soon. Walk with me to the subway?” he asked sweetly.</p>
<p>After two slow blinks, Yeosang seemed to catch on. He nodded, with a slight smile.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Gyeowool purred, “see, Bitna, no chance. I do recall, before he was brave enough to say yes to me, being told it was pointless, since he mostly used to date men.”</p>
<p>He hated this woman, San realized. Whatever she had done to Yeosang, he hated her for it. And he hated that it was <em>her</em> words which made him catch his breath in hope again.</p>
<p>“But a cop, Yeosang. Really?” She rolled her eyes. “How boring must his life be, to be with you?”</p>
<p>Oh, he had had it. He began to reply, saw Yeosang’s changed expression, and closed his mouth.</p>
<p>“Still jumping to conclusions without thought, Gyeowool. How <em>do</em> you stay enrolled? San’s a civil servant in the Bureau of Criminal Shifter Tracking and Apprehension, tasked with hunting down more dangerous creatures than you can imagine,” Yeosang said with cool precision. “As your imagination is limited, picture the worst possible, then triple that. He’s rather extraordinary. If he’d expressed interest in me before I met you, <em>you</em> wouldn’t have had a chance.”</p>
<p>San controlled the delighted laughter bubbling inside him, instead giving the two women a lazy smile and a wave.</p>
<p>Gyeowool yanked Bitna’s arm again, and dragged her off.</p>
<p>“If offended rage had a human form, Yeosang, I think it just stalked away. You can let go now, though,” he added gently.</p>
<p>Yeosang started, and released his hand.</p>
<p>“It was rude of her to be disrespectful to you.”</p>
<p>“I appreciated your defense. It was quite something,” San said with a chuckle.</p>
<p>“Nothing I said was an exaggeration,” he said with a shrug, then bent to pick up his satchel and the bag of food wrappers and empty water bottles. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your station. I have to head home to write up research summaries.”</p>
<p>San swallowed down his questions. Now wasn’t the time or the place. They continued silently on, but Yeosang’s words kept playing in his head. If he’d expressed interest before Gyeowool happened.... He couldn’t think of any other way to describe her. Not that Yeosang with someone so vicious made any sense. He didn’t even know when they’d begun, or how long they’d lasted. And now was after and not before.</p>
<p>“Is it terrible that a part of me wishes Wooyoung was hosting a party tonight?”</p>
<p>“No. I didn’t think you drank when upset, though.”</p>
<p>“I don’t. Just wanted Wooyoung.”</p>
<p>And back came the other thoughts. Wooyoung and Yeosang. The same bed at those parties. Maybe they just talked. Maybe they didn’t. There was so much uncertainty in his brain, he desperately hoped his team would be assigned a Level 3 or 4 shifter today. He waved goodbye to Yeosang at the entrance to the subway station, watching as the other’s pace slowed, and his head bowed. Damn.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yeosang's gold hair after So Many Months of shades of brown?? NICE. </p>
<p>Also, if I sounded like an idiot about his research, I'm very sorry. The shifter concept is clear in my head, but...conceptually. I don't have enough science/genetics knowledge to describe it well. Though I do know destruction of evidence that disproves hypotheses is very bad form. </p>
<p>And there is...more magic than science in this.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Inside some magical aspects of this world, and they're not always pleasant. Some are weird. Some have benefits. Some can lead to emotional pain. Some are not fair to anyone.</p>
<p>Also...how do I put this? Sex is talked about, but *not* the way you think it might be. More academic? (What happens when you turn fairytale lore around and upside down.)</p>
<p>That being said, there's...some moments, but not directly related to the above.</p>
<p>Mostly? Reasons why Yeosang is confusing start to become clear.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When San walked back into the apartment building late that night, he was worn out. Paperwork, all day. Some of which he’d had to redo, distracted as he’d been. Not <em>now</em>, but previously…? Yeosang had all the codes, and special written permission to visit whenever…. And Gyeowool. Thinking about that interaction was truly pointless. He knew nothing. He sighed as he trudged past the front desk and stood in front of the elevators, slowly leaning forward to press the button. He looked down at the phone clutched in his hand, re-reading part of his earlier conversation with Seonghwa.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
The timing is driving me crazy.<br/>
Before with one, after with another?<br/>
Before with both?<br/>
Was one of the guys he dated Wooyoung?<br/>
No, that doesn’t make sense.<br/>
They met in training.<br/>
Unless it was after that, but before Gyeowool.<br/>
But now….<br/>
There isn’t any way to find out, is there?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Not tactfully.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Why can’t I let it go?<br/>
They’re not <em>now</em>.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
If they were now, you wouldn’t be able to be live with Wooyoung.<br/>
It would be unbearable.<br/>
Which naturally has led you to imagine what might have been.<br/>
Though, San-ah…</p>
<p>He stepped into the elevator, and pressed the penthouse button. The doors softly shut.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yes, hyung?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I don’t know anything about that distasteful female.<br/>
But about Wooyoung, it is possible they simply slept together.<br/>
As in <em>sleeping-slept.</em><br/>
Not <em>slept together-slept</em>.<br/>
It is a thing.<br/>
You slept next to me when our heating system broke down<br/>
that one winter.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You’re a panther shifter.<br/>
You’re very warm.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You’re ridiculous.<br/>
But still.<br/>
You could say to someone you and I have slept together.<br/>
In the same bed.<br/>
Many might assume something happened.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me: </strong><br/>
But nothing did.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Exactly.<br/>
So just…don’t assume?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I would rather do that.<br/>
I might even be able to do that.<br/>
If I hadn’t also been told it happens at drunken parties.<br/>
And that he’s always Wooyoung’s roommate then.<br/>
That’s not a one-time thing.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I still think you shouldn’t assume.<br/>
Work calls, San-ah. I have to go.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me: </strong><br/>
Same here, hyung.<br/>
Thank you.</p>
<p>He slid the phone back into his pocket. A few seconds later, the elevator doors opened again, and he was quickly inside the quiet apartment. Too quiet. He looked down. Black heels were next to the door. What timing. But tidily placed next to the black heels, which tumbled together with Wooyoung’s sneakers, was a pair of men’s loafers. He hadn’t gotten <em>that</em> impression from Yeosang’s comments.</p>
<p>And then he heard a clinking sound from the kitchen. Quickly switching into slippers himself, he padded down the hallway. Sitting on a stool next to the kitchen counter, swirling a spoon around and around in a large mug, was Yeosang. In a bath robe.</p>
<p>“What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>He didn’t look up.</p>
<p>“I went for a swim downstairs. I thought maybe she’d have left by the time I returned. She hasn’t. Won’t until morning.”</p>
<p>“Okay…but why are you here?”</p>
<p>“I told you earlier I wanted to see Wooyoung. But he was—obviously—not available. I went for a swim to kill time. Her shoes were still there, so I showered, and borrowed a guest robe. Now? Now I’m stirring hot chocolate.”</p>
<p>“It’s not cold outside, though.”</p>
<p>Yeosang raked a hand through his hair as he raised his gaze to San’s.</p>
<p>Oh, hell.</p>
<p>Wet-haired Yeosang. Wearing a bathrobe. This day was cruel.</p>
<p>“I wanted it, after today.”</p>
<p>San nodded. “Chocolate is good for bad days.”</p>
<p>“Yes. Do you want some? You look awful.”</p>
<p>“I’d like that, yeah, I just…”</p>
<p>“You need to shower? Go ahead.”</p>
<p>“Okay. Do you…do you need to borrow something to wear?”</p>
<p>Yeosang smiled at him. “You’re sweet, San. I’m good. The guest room over there,” and he pointed to the door adjacent to San’s room, “I have my own drawer. Just…the robe is awfully soft. Soft is nice, too, on bad days. But if you’re this uncomfortable, I’ll go change.”</p>
<p>Yeosang slid off the stool and walked past San, caught up in wondering what it meant that Yeosang had changes of clothing at Wooyoung’s. At least they were downstairs, not upstairs. The door shutting jolted him alert.</p>
<p>He hurried through his own room, throwing his uniform onto the bed. As quickly as he could, he showered and changed into casual weekend clothes. Even so, when he walked back to the kitchen, Yeosang was again sitting on a counter stool, pouring packets of cocoa mix into two mugs of heated milk.</p>
<p>“I guess your other was cold.”</p>
<p>Yeosang shrugged a pajama-clad shoulder, then pushed a mug and spoon towards him.</p>
<p>San sat next to him. This he could handle. He stirred his drink in silence, and then asked, “A pajama set?”</p>
<p>“What’s wrong with it?”</p>
<p>“Nothing, nothing…just never thought I’d see another person who wore such a thing.”</p>
<p> Yeosang tilted his head inquiringly.</p>
<p>“Seonghwa-hyung owns several sets. First time I realized that was all he owned for sleepwear, I accused him of being a unicorn shifter, not a panther.” He took a deep swallow of hot chocolate.</p>
<p>Yeosang let go of his spoon.</p>
<p>“Is that amusing?”</p>
<p>“I stupidly thought it was, though I knew unicorn shifters were real. But they’re rare, and <em>multiple pajama sets</em>? That’s pretty rare. It jumped to mind. He read me a lecture on improper shifter identification and how rude it was. Never made that mistake again. Not even in my head.”</p>
<p>“I suppose him being a typical shifter, he wouldn’t have known to tell you that <em>descendants</em> of atypical shifters—the ‘mythic creatures’—also find jokes rude. For their ancestors, whose very existence was denied, and the ‘gifts’ that flow through generations.”</p>
<p>Yeosang’s voice was edged in frustration. San shifted uneasily on the stool.</p>
<p>“I’m not following you.”</p>
<p>Yeosang took a deep breath, and began to swirl his spoon again. Clink. Clink. Soft, rhythmic, and unsettling.</p>
<p>“Why did you recommend me to that battalion?”</p>
<p>San thought back, remembered all he had been told, all that had applied to Yeosang.</p>
<p>“It was for unusually gifted recruits. Most people can’t hear dragon hunting cries. Outside their hearing range. Some people are very good at stealth training, but almost no one excels in black-out assignments.” San glanced at Yeosang. He was still swirling his spoon, staring into the mug. “Very few people have outwitted shifters in stealth missions. In fact, the only people capable of all that would be shifters, or those with strong shifter trait ancestry. You aren’t a shifter, which left only one possibility. There’s a list of criteria; you met most, and exceeded others. When I handed in my final assessments, I recommended your assignment based on all those facts—though I did add special notes that you would make an exceptional candidate for further training.”</p>
<p>Yeosang swirled the spoon a final time, then looked directly at San.</p>
<p>“The first thing they do, the very first day, is draw blood for tests. No one explained why. I know now they were ensuring no mistakes were made in the assessments. Regular humans can’t survive the training. Then we were assigned to separate housing, and we did standard drills as we waited. What did we wait for? ‘Orders.’ You’re a private, you do what you’re told. One week later, the results were back. In individual sessions, the composition of the battalion, our places in it, and our very own genetic natures were explained. Me? I have unicorn shifters in my ancestry.”</p>
<p>San hissed in a breath.</p>
<p>“Indeed. The fairy tales of soft-footed unicorns stepping into glens? True as far as how quiet they and their descendants can be. Having multiple unicorn shifters in different family lines made me <em>very</em> interesting to the sergeants and trainers there. The only reason my time was bearable is <em>my</em> group’s trainer was Kim Hongjoong. He undoubtedly bent, perhaps even broke, rules to ensure I was never far from his side. I never asked. I was too grateful. Everyone was so <em>curious</em>, you see.”</p>
<p>“Yeosang, I am so sorry. I—.”</p>
<p>“I’m not done.” he replied sharply. San flinched. Yeosang sighed and patted his hand. “You didn’t know. I’m very glad you didn’t know. And from what I learned, your recommendations were just a formality. I met enough criteria, as you said—San, I swear, if you cry while I’m still upset, I’m going to be irritated with you.”</p>
<p>San dashed his hands against his eyes and nodded jerkily.</p>
<p>“I met enough criteria. Any other assistant instructor would have made the same recommendation. The situation would not have changed. I was lucky you were my assistant instructor, lucky that you wrote those additional notes because I think…I think that’s what caught Hongjoong-hyung’s attention. You wrote about Seonghwa-ssi, didn’t you?”</p>
<p>“Yes.” He didn’t trust his voice beyond a syllable.</p>
<p>“Stealth is hyung’s specialty, though you wouldn’t think it of a gryphon shifter. That explains his initial insistence I be assigned to him. The rule-bending and so on…he’s more humane than most anyone I know. He didn’t like all that went on. Did you know he had his resignation paperwork arranged to match up with my release date? So I’d stay safe. Actually, no way you could know that. Never tell him, please.”</p>
<p>“No.” </p>
<p>“I don’t like thinking about the battalion, except for the missions with hyung. Those were…wild. And classified.” Yeosang said with a slight smile, which faded as he continued. “Just…don’t ever joke like that about shifter stuff, okay? You never know whom you’re talking to. Now you do, about me, at least…which means you should realize I was more than qualified to give an opinion on the bureau hiring you.”</p>
<p>San dropped his head in his hands. “I did question that, didn’t I? You must’ve thought I was an idiot.”</p>
<p>“More idiot-ish than an idiot. You had no way to know. And I wouldn’t have told you, except you have enough clearance now.”</p>
<p>“And I upset you,” San mumbled.</p>
<p>“There’s that, too.”</p>
<p>“Wait. Didn’t you once joke about a phoenix?”</p>
<p>“Phoenixes, basilisks, centaurs, satyrs, sirens, pegasi, and all global variations are actually mythical and have never existed. Yes, it’s strange--why unicorns and not pegasi? Me, I think humans must have seen some oddly shaped dragons carrying off horses to eat. Hence the neighing. Maybe. No one knows.”</p>
<p>Yeosang took a sip of his drink. “Ugh. Cold.”</p>
<p>San cleared his throat.</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Who all knows about…the unicorn shifter ancestry?”</p>
<p>“My parents. You. Hyung. People who need to know. And Wooyoung.”</p>
<p>“Wooyoung?”</p>
<p>“It’s stupid. It’s so stupid it should have stayed a fairy tale. It should not be real, even if the stories got it twisted round.” He groaned. “So full-blooded unicorn shifters aren’t actually as rare as you think. They just like living in remote places. Why? Because when they’re around virgin humans, they get mobbed.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that whole, oh, a virgin female can entice a unicorn? No. Something about unicorns entices virgin humans of either gender. Irresistibly. It only reappears in some descendants—when we’re asleep.”</p>
<p>San gasped. “You don’t mean people ever…I mean, no one ever…”</p>
<p>“No! Nothing like that! Just..um…try to imagine how extremely weird it is to wake up and find strangers stroking your hair? It’s still wrong, because I didn’t say they could and—stop laughing, it’s embarrassing!”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” San managed, through giggles, “But just…the image! People who don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing, but wanting to touch your hair while you sleep—what happens when you wake up?”</p>
<p>“Awkwardness on an epic scale. And drunken babbling. Or sober fleeing. Thank the gods fewer people I hang around these days are virgins. But, well, sometimes they are, and that’s okay! It’s all a choice. But if I’m here at a party and I’m sleeping over…the only guaranteed safe spot is Wooyoung’s bedroom, with the door locked. Because he is <em>not</em> a virgin and is therefore entirely immune. So whatever magic is involved—and honestly, no one understands it any more than they do the fact that shifters even exist in the first place—is irrelevant. I <em>had </em>to tell him the first time I spent the night over here. I was worried what might happen. He laughed himself nearly sick. Like almost throwing up sick, if you can believe it. He reminded me he’d spent time in America, but even before that, he was who he was. And smirked at me. Wait, shit. Are you?”</p>
<p>“Am I…? Oh. OH. Uh, no.” This wasn’t a strange moment at all. Nope.</p>
<p>“Good. That’s one less potential awkward moment in my future.”</p>
<p>“Potential? Isn’t it always awkward?”</p>
<p>“Hell, yes. But potential as in, it could happen. Some game nights, we play so late we fall asleep in the living room. And I do <em>not</em> want to freak you out like that. Here, let me rinse these mugs out.”</p>
<p>San stared at Yeosang as he moved toward the sink. To be irresistibly drawn to a sleeping Yeosang? For a stranger, that could be cause for a <em>gigantic</em> freak-out…or maybe they’d just persuade themselves they were more drunk than they’d realized. But for him? He wished. Well, no, that wasn’t true. Without Yeosang being okay with it, he wouldn’t want it. Though his hair was very pretty</p>
<p>“You do have temptingly nice hair, though, you know. Even more so, now that it’s gold.”</p>
<p>Yeosang whirled around, eyes narrowed. “You. I am changing your saved contact name. ‘Sin’ no more. Before I go to sleep, you’ll be ‘OnThinIce’.”</p>
<p>“Better than ‘TheDevil.’”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’ve never stopped thinking of you as the devil.”</p>
<p>“And you’re an angel?”</p>
<p>“Have you seen my face?” Yeosang struck a pose.</p>
<p><em>Ethereal</em>. Seonghwa’s first assessment was never far from San’s mind.</p>
<p>“Is there an angel in charge of passing judgment? If so, I agree.”</p>
<p>“Just when my mood was improving.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Right. Yeah.” He sighed. Gyeowool.</p>
<p>Yeosang paused and glanced upwards. “Y’know, I’m 99 percent certain neither one of them is going to appear until morning. He does have a mini fridge in his room. But just in case…it wasn’t smart of me to talk so openly, earlier.” He beckoned San towards him. When he neared, he spun him around and shoved at his shoulder. “My room. Well, my room for the night. Go on.”</p>
<p>“The living room?”</p>
<p>“There is no door to shut in the living room. Like I said, I made a mistake talking about shifter things in the open earlier.”</p>
<p>Him. Yeosang. A bedroom. A closed door. At least he wasn’t still wearing that robe. Which was tossed onto the desk chair Yeosang directed him to. He perched on the seat cushion’s edge. Yeosang shut the door and leaned against it.</p>
<p>“If you laugh, San-ah…”</p>
<p>“I’ll try not to.”</p>
<p>“Hm.” Yeosang walked toward him. “So…the sleeping thing. That’s just part of it. Other things you can guess at, from training. Some you can’t, though if you’ve read any unicorn lore, you might make accurate guesses.”</p>
<p>“No. I’m still learning, but I’ve never heard of any unicorn shifters in the criminal world.”</p>
<p>“Not because they’re too noble,” Yeosang said dryly, leaning against the desk. “It’s the whole attracting attention thing. I suppose they could burglarize sex toys shops, but that’s no guarantee.”</p>
<p>San opened his mouth, then shut it. He was <em>not</em> going to discuss that topic with Yeosang.</p>
<p>“One never knows about people. Assumptions can lead you off-target. The appeal is instantaneous to susceptible humans. They just want to be <em>near</em> the shifters. Very near. Mobbing, like I said earlier.”</p>
<p>San nodded in relief.</p>
<p>“I can’t speak for all descendants. I don’t know if I am the way I am thanks to one ancestral shifter, or a combination of traits from all of them. Rather glad they had no way to test that. I imagine it wouldn’t have been pleasant.” His face briefly grew cold, then he shook himself. “No more of that! What I did learn, through training, is that I heal about three times as quickly as most humans, if I don’t <em>want</em> to be heard approaching, no one <em>can</em> hear me, and if I don’t <em>want</em> to be seen, though I have to exert a lot of energy to achieve it, people can’t keep their eyes on me. Their eyes literally slide past.”</p>
<p>“I don’t believe that.”</p>
<p>“Why not?”</p>
<p>Just say it, San. Say it quickly, like the fact it is.</p>
<p>“Yeosang, you’re beautiful. People most definitely look at you. They stare.”</p>
<p>“That’s because I’m not trying.”</p>
<p>San snorted. “Yeah, you’re genetically blessed. You don’t have to try.”</p>
<p>“That is not what I meant! It isn’t as easy as not being heard, or other things, it requires <em>effort</em>. It’s very tiring to…to more or less force people’s attention away from me.”</p>
<p>“Because you’re so handsome.” San grinned.</p>
<p>“You know what? Fine.” Yeosang whipped around and marched to the bed. Peering back over his shoulder, he said, “Keep your eyes on me. And wait. I’m exhausting myself <em>for you</em>. You owe me chocolate later.”</p>
<p>“Sure.” San relaxed in his chair. Staring at Yeosang with full permission? He was okay with that. The robe brushing against his shoulder…it was fine. He watched as Yeosang laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. Now it felt awkward.</p>
<p>“Don’t take a nap,” he was ordered.</p>
<p>A <em>nap</em>? This, this was the most frustrating thing about Yeosang. Oblivious, impartially factual, or low-key flirting? He could never tell.</p>
<p>“I’m not napping. I’m watching you. But isn’t this weird?”</p>
<p>“I did it countless times under supervision as part of training. At least you’re not clicking a pen and making notes. Just give me a minute.”</p>
<p>San wondered what happened in that battalion—and was grateful he would never be in a position to recommend anyone again. Given the stories of Kim Hongjoong’s field captures, and that Yeosang had admitted to taking part in some of those missions…it worried him to think what he’d been sent to do. He wasn’t a weakling, but he was no shifter. He just had some inherited traits. He nibbled at his lower lip as he gazed at the man on the bed, his chest lightly rising and falling.</p>
<p>The man on the bed who was starting to look…transparent? He blinked several times. He leaned forward in his chair. Yeosang was gone. San stood up.</p>
<p>“Yeosang? I believe you now.” He looked back to the bed…and his eyes slid past it. Startled, he dragged his gaze back to where Yeosang had been…and his eyes kept moving. “Yeosang-ah?” He took cautious steps forward, hands outstretched. As he neared the bed, he could focus more clearly. He breathed a sigh of relief, but when his hands reached out, there was no human form to be felt.</p>
<p>He slowly turned in a circle, letting his eyes drift, waiting to feel a pull to look <em>past</em> a spot. Nothing. Even if unicorn shifters didn’t commit crimes, surely their descendants could. With an ability like this, Yeosang could do…anything. He shivered.</p>
<p>“Yeosangie?” He called out. “Where are you?”</p>
<p>Suddenly a hand wrapped itself in his hair and his head was pulled backwards. A soft voice whispered near his ear, “You won’t see me if I don’t want to be seen.”</p>
<p>San tried to swallow. He could barely breathe.</p>
<p>“You won’t hear me if I don’t want to be heard.”</p>
<p>His body felt tight, waves of heat running through him.</p>
<p>“And, San-ah, you didn’t know I was behind you, until I touched you.”</p>
<p>This was dangerous. Temptation wrestled with conscience. He fought hard, and raised trembling hands in surrender. Immediately, he was released. Yeosang chuckled and patted his head.</p>
<p>“It’s not easy for me, either. I’m tired. But now you can’t mock me!”</p>
<p>Like a sudden spark, Yeosang was visibly present at the edge of San’s vision, his face paler than normal, his shoulders sagging. He turned back to the bed and laid down again. San forced himself to walk back to the chair, swiping the robe as he turned to sit, and hugging it to his chest. Bless long robes.</p>
<p>“You didn’t…you didn’t say you could move around.”</p>
<p>A faint smile crossed the other’s face. “It wouldn’t be a useful skill if all I could do was remain motionless. I just can’t sustain it for very long. Not being heard…that’s effortless, why I scored so highly in stealth missions. Being close to invisible, that got me into some of hyung’s missions. I only played small parts. Too draining. But it’s a good way to surprise someone.”</p>
<p>“You did surprise me. Does…does Wooyoung know?”</p>
<p>“No. He only knows about the sleeping and waking effects. The first, he needed to know, the second…I let slip when venting. Neither is restricted information. What I just did,” and he gently waved a hand in the air, “is restricted, rare, and only achievable through…rather…intense training.”</p>
<p>“Wait. Waking effects?” San was suddenly more alert.</p>
<p>“Yeah. It’s not a compulsion, more like a draw. Sometimes a very strong draw. Still only to the same group of susceptible people.”</p>
<p>“Has anyone ever told you, Yeosang, that your life resembles a drama?”</p>
<p>“No. You?”</p>
<p>“Yes. One with a plot that won’t move forward and a clueless lead character.”</p>
<p>“I strongly object to that. You’re very intelligent.”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh. Waking effects—explain?”</p>
<p>“I get hit on a lot.”</p>
<p>“Like earlier today?”</p>
<p>“Hah.” Yeosang took a deep breath. “Not usually like that. Usually more like…remember that café? The day we met in person?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“The barista.”</p>
<p>“Oh…” So that’s why she had been smiling and then sad…but why the glare at him?</p>
<p>“She took my no like a normal person. Most do. She may have thought you were my reason for saying no.”</p>
<p>That explained the glare.</p>
<p>“Today was…intermediate, though just my luck she had to be friends with Gyeowool.”</p>
<p>“She was…pretty harsh to you.”</p>
<p>“The waking effect…,” Yeosang grimaced, “was incredibly strong on her. She broke up with me the day after we slept together—she’d lost all interest in me. Guess why that was.”</p>
<p>San pressed his lips together.</p>
<p>“It was an unforgettable moment. Especially since I knew exactly why. Today was…all because of inherited shifter traits. Not because I’m me. Not even because of my face.” He made a disgusted sound. “Pathetic, isn’t it? S’why I came here. Wooyoung knows the whole story. But…he was busy.”</p>
<p>“It’s not pathetic...I mean, you’re so much more than how you look. But I get why you’d prefer even that over something strange and magical you can’t control at all.”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Yeosang closed his eyes. “I’m tired, Sanie. I want to go to sleep.”</p>
<p>The name plucked at his heart. He looked so worn out. San dropped the robe on the chair, walked to the bed, and carefully rearranged the quilts around Yeosang.</p>
<p>“Then sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“’Night, Sanie.”</p>
<p>“’Night, Yeosang.” He slipped out of the room and gently shut the door. All things being equal, he was glad Wooyoung had been occupied that night. He hoped that didn’t make him a terrible friend. He was also glad he didn’t have work the next day. His brain was such a mess, rest seemed a far way off.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Poor Yeosang. Poor San. Poor everyone affected by unicorn magic. Though all for very different reasons! </p>
<p>Yeosang is confusing.</p>
<p>San is a saint.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wooyoung is loyal.  And not subtle at all.</p>
<p>When Yeosang is assigned to a job, he has no problems being devious, while still being honest. Doesn't mean he's any easier to understand on a personal level.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, San stumbled out of his room, rubbing his eyes. Wooyoung was at the counter, eating leftovers.</p>
<p>“Has Yeosang left yet?”</p>
<p>Wooyoung stopped eating.</p>
<p>“Yeosang was here last night?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. We had lunch together on campus, ran into Gyeowool and some of her friends. He came here to talk to you last night, but, well....”</p>
<p>“What did she do?”</p>
<p>“A friend she was with wanted Yeosang’s number. She objected. They fought. The friend kept at it. They fought again. Eventually they left.” San poured himself a cup of coffee.</p>
<p>“Was he okay?”</p>
<p>“No. But he eventually fell asleep.” Shuffling to the counter, San took a large gulp of caffeine.</p>
<p>“He fell asleep.”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>Wooyoung eyed him. “And you didn’t—no, you wouldn’t. If you were like that, you’d never able to hold back around him when he was awake. Unless you had incredible self-control. Of course, you <em>were</em> an assistant instructor in the military. And you’ve friend-zoned yourself spectacularly. So maybe I <em>should</em> ask if you’ve had sex before, only there’s no polite way to do it.”</p>
<p>San choked on his coffee.</p>
<p>“See?” Wooyoung waved his chopsticks in the air. “I was trying to be casual, and it still startled you. No polite way to make sure Yeosang is comfortable.”</p>
<p>“What about Yunho?”</p>
<p>“We were both in America soon after military discharge.” Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “What do you think?”</p>
<p>“Ah.”</p>
<p>“So?”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Have you?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” he said shortly.</p>
<p>“Perfect.” Wooyoung went back to his food.</p>
<p>San took another sip of coffee.</p>
<p>“Aren’t you hungry?</p>
<p>“Not this morning.”</p>
<p>“Hm.”</p>
<p>“Stop being suspicious. He needed someone to vent to, I didn’t know the background, so it was a lot to process. I still don’t understand it all.”</p>
<p>“It’s unusual. But your job deals with shifters, so the unusual is usual for you. Right?”</p>
<p>“I’m on a team that tracks down shifter criminals. I know what I need to know. Which isn’t everything. And I don’t know all that much about those with shifter traits. Until last night, I knew <em>nothing</em> about unicorn shifters and their kids’ kids’ kids and sleeping and waking magical effect-things,” San said crossly.</p>
<p>“Ohhhh. It’s a sight.”</p>
<p>“Like that! He didn’t know during training. You were in the same barracks. How did he get through that without major problems? I never heard a word.”</p>
<p>“Almost everyone was dead asleep the second their heads hit the cots, so they never knew. Some, like myself, wouldn’t have been affected, even if we could stay awake. So as far as I know, it didn’t happen in training. I don’t know about the battalion…but hold on! I’ve seen it at a couple parties, here. Before you flip out, you need to know that though sex gives…immunity, or whatever? There’s nothing sexual about it. I mean, yeah, it’s not cool, because it’s still an invasion of his space, but it’s more…not religious, but kinda? Like in museums? It never lasts long, since it wakes him pretty quickly. Like I said, it isn’t cool, he never said they could touch him. But it’s not really their fault.”</p>
<p>“That’s the only reason why he sleeps in your bedroom when people crash here, then. To feel safe?”</p>
<p>“Look, I love Yeosang. I’d—forget your job for a second—I’d commit serious crimes to keep him from hurting. But he’s not my type. He’s my height. That’s a total strike out. Bad enough I’m around Yunho, the dancing tree, most days.”</p>
<p>“I think Yeosang might be <em>slightly</em> taller than you.”</p>
<p>“Shut up. Also, I’m not near a mindset to settle into a relationship, and he’s not a casual thing person.”</p>
<p>“But are you attracted to him? People can be attracted against their type.”</p>
<p>“Yeosang saved you as ‘Sin.’ I’m changing you from ‘GymSan to ‘AnnoyingCop.’” Wooyoung made a face. “I’m not blind. I see everything in him that you do, but just…nothing there, not on either side. The only competition anyone faces with him is what’s in his head.”</p>
<p>“Gyeowool messed him up that bad?”</p>
<p>“Yes. For a while, I sincerely prayed every day that she would discover the center of the Earth by dropping through a tunnel, and be stuck there, alone, until death claimed her,” Wooyoung said bitterly.</p>
<p>San's mouth twisted. “So I wouldn’t be alone in thinking her a horrible person who somehow tricked Yeosang?”</p>
<p>“You’d have company in that belief. We could form a club.”</p>
<p>“He knows not everyone’s affected, though.” San persisted. “I’d bet anything not everyone who asks him out is just reacting.”</p>
<p>Wooyoung shrugged. “What he <em>knows</em> and what he ‘knows’ don’t overlap on this issue. It’s a mental block.”</p>
<p>San hesitated. No tactful way, but then Wooyoung hadn’t been tactful.</p>
<p>“When did they end?”</p>
<p>“A few weeks before winter break last year.”</p>
<p>“And…when did they start?”</p>
<p>Wooyoung gave him a curious look.</p>
<p>“I’m not just asking to ask.”</p>
<p>“Hmm. It took her a month to wear him down. Convince him she <em>liked him for him</em>. I saw them together once. She was like a leech, but he seemed happy, so I let it go. Two weeks into the dating thing, she persuaded him to sleep with her. Think about that a second, okay—wait, no, not the sex part. I made that sound terrible. Think about how he knows the effects he has on people, on virgins, and, well, he was one, too. So think how much he had to trust her to go along with it. And then, the next morning—I am not making this shit up—she told him it was over, she didn’t feel anything for him, could he please leave before she had to get to class.”</p>
<p>San stared at him, speechless.</p>
<p>“The <em>only</em> reason I didn’t punch a hole in my wall is because I had a sobbing Yeosang in my arms, and it was…,” Wooyoung took a steadying breath, “a good long while before he cried himself out. By then, I hated her more than I was angry at her.”</p>
<p>“There was a period of time when he wasn’t online. I thought he was working on his thesis….”</p>
<p>“No. He didn’t go near his phone. I deleted the photos he had of her. He’d never posted them. Part of him was too worried it wouldn’t last, I guess. It got so bad, I texted Hongjoong-hyung.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>Wooyoung looked at him oddly. “He was Yeosang’s trainer in the battalion—and has been his mentor since. They have lunch together once or twice a month. He’s surely told you that?”</p>
<p>“Yeah…yeah, he did mention lunch with him.”</p>
<p>“Phew. I didn’t think it was a secret, but—anyway, Yeosang always seemed happier for a couple days after those lunches. He was so…listless, after Gyeowool, I didn’t know what to do. So I texted Kim Hongjoong. I don’t know what he was doing, but he was over here in less than half an hour. In uniform. So he ditched <em>work</em>. Military makes for intense bonds, doesn’t it?” Wooyoung mused.</p>
<p>“What did he do?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. He just told me he’d arrange things with Yeosang’s university, and that he’d bring him back in two weeks. Which he did. And he was…better. Except that from that point onwards, he’s refused to let anyone new near him.”</p>
<p>“I’m new.”</p>
<p>“He was talking to you—and talking about you—for more than a <em>year</em> before Gyeowool. You were not new.”</p>
<p>“That is…possibly the worst thing I’ve heard in a long time.” If before Gyeowool…if before…why had the timing been so off? No, why hadn’t he said something? Too worried. And he hadn’t thought Yeosang felt <em>anything</em>.</p>
<p>“Not to pry, though we’re in Q and A mode this morning, seems like, but why is it the worst thing?”</p>
<p>“Because Gyeowool was rude to me, and he stepped up. I didn’t expect it. She was just…trampling over him, telling that friend there was no chance for anyone after her—”</p>
<p>“Oh, for—”</p>
<p>“I know. Let me finish? She made a sly comment about how he used to date guys, swiping at her friend and then somehow me, ‘just a cop,’ and then Yeosang, well…”</p>
<p>“Cut her into ribbons?” Wooyoung eagerly asked.</p>
<p>“I’d say so.”</p>
<p>He smiled. “Excellent.”</p>
<p>“But listen.” San took a calming breath. “The last thing he said to her before she stormed off was that if I’d expressed interest in him before he met her, then <em>she</em> wouldn’t have had a chance.”</p>
<p> Wooyoung dropped his chopsticks.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”</p>
<p>“You knew nothing,” San retorted. “All that cryptic crap when we first met, you were trying to figure out what was going on. You had me pinned, but you didn’t know him.”</p>
<p>“Well…okay, no. But I was trying to figure out if there was something. He talked about you so much. He was affectionate with you within hours of meeting you. He doesn’t do that. <em>After he met you face to face</em>, he saved you in his phone as ‘Sin.’ I mean.…”</p>
<p>“You’re forgetting the part where he said if I’d said something <em>before</em> they dated, things would…I don’t know, maybe have been different. It’s now after, and as you’ve said several times, and I <em>saw</em> yesterday, she did a number on him.”</p>
<p>“I’m not forgetting that part. But there’s also, what, subconscious stuff at work all the time? Before you dropped this bombshell on me, I was thinking maybe he was moving on. Doesn’t it ever feel like flirting?”</p>
<p>“Sometimes.” San said slowly. “But it might just be me wishing it was. And knowing what I know now…I really, really do not want to push and stress him out.”</p>
<p>“Yeosang isn’t fragile, San. Get that out of your head, now.” Wooyoung said sharply. “She did mess him up. But whatever Hongjoong-hyung did to help—and yes, I call him that, he said I could—made a huge difference. And every time he sees him, he’s better and stronger. And he does like you a lot and trust you a lot. AND HE SNAPPED BACK AT HER. FOR YOU.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to yell,” San complained. “So are you telling me to do something or not to do something?”</p>
<p>“Neither. All I’m doing is letting you know enough facts about Yeosang so you don’t misunderstand him. So you’re aware of all possibilities. Like maybe he really likes you and is still sorting it out."</p>
<p>"Or not. He'd defend you, too."</p>
<p>"Pessimist."</p>
<p>"Realist."</p>
<p>"No, no, I think you’ve just been thinking this way for too long. But fine, let’s say he likes you the way he likes me. Why do you think guests at my parties mostly keep away when he’s awake? Because some of them should be affected, and trying to get close to him, right?”</p>
<p>“I thought they did. Hence the whole…bed-sharing…thing.”</p>
<p>“I’ll leave that jealous voice alone. Think, okay. Why would they steer clear?”</p>
<p>“Not many virgins at your parties?”</p>
<p>Wooyoung laughed. “Probably true. But not the reason.”</p>
<p>“They think he’s with you.”</p>
<p>“Yes. And why?</p>
<p>“The bed-sharing.”</p>
<p>“Will you drop that?" Wooyoung smacked his arm. "It’s not an advertised fact.”</p>
<p>“Then…it doesn’t make sense.”</p>
<p>“I’d critique your cop skills, but you’re at a knowledge disadvantage. Yeosang is playful, affectionate, and charming when he’s in a good mood, yes?”</p>
<p>“Very.”</p>
<p>“When he’s drinking, as soon as the buzz hits? He’s not just all those things, he’s also very, very clingy. To me.”</p>
<p>San let his forehead gently hit the counter.</p>
<p>“That sounds like torture,” he groaned against the marble.</p>
<p>“He is also <em>very</em> truthful. It’s usually funny. Or alarming. Depends on the topic and the person he’s talking to.”</p>
<p>San yanked his head back up and glared at Wooyoung. “No way would I take advantage of that.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t think you would. And you shouldn’t. It’s more a warning. Because he always remembers what he says and what’s said to him, what he does, and what he sees. And your game face still sucks. So <em>if</em> he likes you, be very careful what you say. And don’t <em>do</em> anything unless he expressly and clearly okays it, or I’ll kick you out.”</p>
<p>“You’ve got a warped way to say kind things, but I got it.”</p>
<p>Wooyoung’s phone pinged.</p>
<p>“We speak of him, and we get an Instagram update.”</p>
<p>San laughed.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“I think he got bored waiting.”</p>
<p>“What does that mean?”</p>
<p>“Just click it.” San propped his chin on his hands and watched Wooyoung.</p>
<p>“HIS HAIR IS BLOND! WHEN DID HE—HE DIDN’T TELL ME HE WAS GOING TO—HIS HAIR IS BLOND? HOW DID YOU NOT FALL APART YESTERDAY?"</p>
<p>“Can you please stop yelling?”</p>
<p>“NO! Yes. Yes. But BLOND! Look at him!” Wooyoung turned the phone towards San, and he stared at the selca. He had to have taken it yesterday, when he was waiting for him to show up with food. Leaning against the same tree, the sun shining on him. He’d been in such a good mood. He would give so much to see that smile every day.</p>
<p>Wooyoung pulled the phone away and looked critically at him.</p>
<p>“You’re so far gone, it’s not funny. I’d say it was sad, but this changes everything.”</p>
<p>“How?”</p>
<p>“He snapped Gyeowool in half, right? That’s a big step.”</p>
<p>“He was sad after.”</p>
<p>“It’s still huge progress. He did that <em>for you</em>. And second? This dye job.”</p>
<p>“He said he was bored of his reflection.”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh. Did you read the caption under the photo or just stare at him? Why am I bothering to ask? Caption says ‘In-person reactions not like I thought they’d be. So here’s the selca!’ You didn’t react? Which I don’t get. And which, judging by the comments, no one else gets.”</p>
<p>“His eyes were closed when I saw him. So he, um, didn’t see me…almost drop the bag of food. And I played it off.”</p>
<p>“WHY?”</p>
<p>“How was I supposed to know lunch would end with him saying what he said? I have spent how many months certain it was all on my side, trying to cope with it and just be a good friend?”</p>
<p>“Okay, okay.”</p>
<p>“Still don’t see why you’re saying his hair color relates to me.”</p>
<p>“Well…I can’t be sure. But 90% of me says his subconscious wanted to grab your attention. And consciously, he was disappointed.”</p>
<p>“I can’t win for losing, can I?”</p>
<p>“Up until now…no. But now you have me.” Wooyoung gave him a megawatt smile.</p>
<p>“I thought you said no pushing.”</p>
<p>“I’m still firmly in that camp. But…I have some ideas.”</p>
<p>“Wooyoung,” San said warningly.</p>
<p>“San. In all seriousness, this is a much better chance than I would ever have thought. Are you seriously going to not make a move? And lose him to somebody else? Because eventually, some day, that’ll happen. I think I said it earlier, yeah, I did, because it was brilliant. You’ve friendzoned yourself. You have to risk a little. And then maybe more later. Just be careful. Or I’ll kick you out.”</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I’ve been invited to a co-worker’s wedding.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Popular already.<br/>
Nice.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I don’t know what to wear.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Is it a naturalist wedding?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
NO.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Disappointing.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How??</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Would be new for Korea.<br/>
Probably against the law.<br/>
But new.<br/>
Therefore interesting.<br/>
Since not.<br/>
A suit.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I wear a uniform to work.<br/>
The only suit I have is from my internship interview.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Are you serious?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yes.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
A suit you bought in college.<br/>
Isn’t even a suit.<br/>
It’s badly fitting slacks.<br/>
And a jacket with too-short sleeves.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It’s hanging up in my closet.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Give it to the desk clerk.<br/>
For donation.<br/>
Though chances are.<br/>
They’ll incinerate it.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That’s extreme.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Recall where you live.<br/>
The staff could buy better quality.<br/>
Out of their own pockets.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Ouch.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
San, think how often you work out.<br/>
Even a nice suit?<br/>
Absolutely no way.<br/>
Would it fit you now.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It had some room in the shoulders…</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Oh my God, you’re clueless.<br/>
Then it had room.<br/>
Now?<br/>
Your shoulders would rip the threads apart.<br/>
Which, well.<br/>
Would be something to see.</p>
<p>Amusement? Interest? Observation? How could someone with no filter be so unclear? Risk a little?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Do you want to come over and film it?</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Tempting.<br/>
But then I’d feel obliged to vacuum.<br/>
Maybe.<br/>
I have a better idea.<br/>
Wooyoung’s tailor.<br/>
Well, not his tailor.<br/>
Personally.<br/>
He rarely wears suits.<br/>
The tailor he sees when he has to.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Like a personally made suit?<br/>
That’s money I do not, and will never, have.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
You think I do?<br/>
Yet I own two suits.<br/>
This is called:<br/>
Perk of being Wooyoung’s friend.<br/>
Heavy discount.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I don’t know if I’m ethically allowed to do that.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
He’s not a shifter.<br/>
With a backroom criminal enterprise.<br/>
I don’t see how.<br/>
But fine.<br/>
I’ll buy it for you.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You’ll…buy me a suit?</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Yes.<br/>
A very belated happy job gift.</p>
<p>San stared out the window of his room. Yeosang had never given him a gift before. Even discounted, it couldn’t be cheap. Close friends might do it, he supposed, but…</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
You’re welcome.<br/>
The wedding better not be a few days away.<br/>
He won’t sacrifice quality for speed.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No, it’s in two weeks.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Oh, good.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Don’t you have to check with him first?<br/>
He might have lots of other business lined up.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Doubt it.<br/>
He only makes suits.<br/>
And separates.<br/>
For Wooyoung’s family.<br/>
I mean, his whole family.<br/>
Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins.<br/>
But he does their summer suits in April and May.<br/>
It’s June.<br/>
What’s your schedule like tomorrow?<br/>
Not still afternoon/evenings?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No, that was last week.<br/>
7:00 to 4:00 for now.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Excellent.<br/>
I trust his taste.<br/>
But it’s my gift.<br/>
I want to be there.<br/>
The professor, though.<br/>
He eats ethics by day.<br/>
He must be watched.<br/>
Your schedule is convenient.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
He won’t think you spending more time is strange?<br/>
You’re a temporary research assistant.<br/>
How did you even get the position?</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Someone he trusts recommended me.<br/>
He appreciates my thoroughness.<br/>
And he’s too desperate to ask.<br/>
I have therefore never told him.<br/>
He is a dangerous fool.<br/>
And his work has no merit.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You’d be fired if you did that.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Yes.<br/>
But he has no reason to doubt.<br/>
I <em>am</em> eager and helpful.<br/>
For a different outcome.<br/>
He does not pick up on that.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Sometimes I think…<br/>
You dance a tango with the truth.<br/>
You don’t lie.<br/>
But you’re pressed so closely together…<br/>
The truth is not always visible.<br/>
So people watching you are left guessing.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Then I’m doing a good job.<br/>
But you should sleep.<br/>
I <em>know</em> you’ll go to the gym first.<br/>
That café truly was a blessing.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Where we first met in person?</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Mm-hm.<br/>
Because I met you, you got a home.<br/>
With a gym open 18 hours a day.<br/>
One floor away.<br/>
And I had my first taste of sin.<br/>
In a long time.<br/>
Sleep well, San-ah.<br/>
I’ll message you about the tailor tomorrow.</p>
<p>San imagined throwing his phone across the room. First taste of sin. Obvious meaning: #absolutelysinful. A hashtag he wished he had never used. Possible second meaning: Yeosang had saved him as “Sin” in his phone afterwards. And he hadn’t been interested in anyone since Gyeowool. Assuming he was interested now.</p>
<p>Maybe this was part of the unicorn shifter ancestry. Double-talk. But not. Sort of. He buried his head under his pillow. Sleep, San. Sleep, sleep, sleep. Maybe he’d dream up an answer.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Wooyoung has ideas. Um....</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Several things, including Wooyoung's sudden inspiration.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Before I share my news.<br/>
How was the wedding?<br/>
Did people compliment the suit?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Good afternoon to you, too.<br/>
It was a wedding.<br/>
People were happy.<br/>
And, yes, the suit was noticed.<br/>
And, yes, what I wore in college…<br/>
Was nothing in comparison.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Give your number out to anyone?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No. No one there held any interest for me.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Oh.<br/>
Well, I have two pieces of news!<br/>
First.<br/>
Professor of limited vision.<br/>
Is gone.<br/>
Reports filed.<br/>
He’s discredited.<br/>
Evidence saved.<br/>
I feel almost heroic.<br/>
Except probably heroes.<br/>
Don’t laugh when the villain.<br/>
Is lectured by the university heads.<br/>
And his tenure revoked.<br/>
Second!<br/>
I got a job!</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
To the first, at least you didn’t set off fireworks?<br/>
To the second, I didn’t know you were looking.<br/>
But that’s great news!<br/>
Where? When does it start?<br/>
Is it a long commute?</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Ah…well, it’s partly work from home.<br/>
And I’m on probationary period for a month.<br/>
It starts next week.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How did you find a cushy job like that?</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
I wouldn’t call it cushy.<br/>
But I had to sign an NDA.<br/>
I can’t really talk about it.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
So you’re a spy.<br/>
Figures.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
I am not!<br/>
Spy work is too much surveillance.<br/>
That’s boring.<br/>
Two years in those mountains.<br/>
With brief breaks.<br/>
That’s enough boring for my lifetime.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Okay…well, anyway.<br/>
We should celebrate!</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Absolutely.<br/>
Oh. Hold on.<br/>
Wooyoung’s calling me.</p>
<p>San put down his phone and finished typing a report. Class 1 shifters were never difficult for his team to capture, but the amount of paperwork was always the same. He submitted all the forms, then glanced at his email. No alerts to track down. Tonight would be a good night to relax.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Back.<br/>
Told Wooyoung.<br/>
He said apartment, tonight, his treat.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I live there, too…</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
You weren’t going to invite me over?<br/>
Same as he did?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Well…I’d have checked with him first.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
You think he’d have said no?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No. But he just took all the glory.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
San, you are adorable.<br/>
When you’re annoyed.<br/>
When not annoyed.<br/>
Not so much.</p>
<p><strong>Me: </strong><br/>
How did this go from congratulating you to insulting me?</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
I never insulted you.<br/>
I said you were adorable when annoyed.<br/>
I didn’t say anything bad about other times.<br/>
But if you want me to describe you.<br/>
When you’re not annoyed, I mean…</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No!<br/>
I’d like to walk out of work with my head held high,<br/>
not a shaky mess because my closest friend has<br/>
ripped me to shreds.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
The conclusions you jump to.<br/>
Anyway!<br/>
You can buy me chocolate cake to celebrate!<br/>
:D</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I can do that.<br/>
Won’t be <em>that</em> chocolate cake, tho.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
No.<br/>
Today isn’t one of the two days.<br/>
And they’d be sold out by now.<br/>
Even if they’d sell it to you.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Why wouldn’t they sell it to me?<br/>
If they were selling it today.</p>
<p><strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Excessively stupid reasons.<br/>
Just find something delicious.<br/>
I’m heading over in a few hours.<br/>
See you soon!</p>
<p>San pushed the non-answer answer to the back of his mind. He had long since given up hopes of getting explanations from Yeosang when the other was in no mood to share. A job with an NDA. Huh. Pretty cool. Definitely worthy of chocolate. He sent a short message to Seonghwa.</p>
<p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Are you dating him yet?</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No.<br/>
I told you, it’s very…delicate.<br/>
Why are you asking me anyway?</p>
<p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You text me updates on Yeosang as if he was, oh, I don’t know…<br/>
a boyfriend you wanted to brag on.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I am proud of him, tho.<br/>
In a weird way, I feel like I helped him.<br/>
That battalion gave him skills.<br/>
And he might not have had the experience he did…<br/>
if a certain normally calm shifter trainer for recruits…</p>
<p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Stop right there.<br/>
I won’t ask again.<br/>
No need to bring that memory to vivid, horrifying, humiliating life.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Well. Okay. If you say so.<br/>
I love you, hyung!</p>
<p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I’m going back to my cataloging.<br/>
Have fun celebrating your protégé’s job.<br/>
Hopefully it’s legal.<br/>
Wouldn’t <em>that</em> be awkward.</p>
<p><strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I love you a little bit less for that insinuation.</p>
<p><strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
;)<br/>
Bye, San.</p>
<p><strong>Me: </strong><br/>
Don’t stay at the museum too late.</p>
<p>When San pushed open the apartment door, he heard two voices, neither Yeosang’s. Puzzled, he swapped to slippers and padded into the living room. He found Yunho blowing up balloons and Wooyoung taping them to the wall.</p>
<p>“How are you both here already?”</p>
<p>Yunho grinned at him.</p>
<p>“Yeosangie getting a job means the studio closes early for the day. When the studio owner is the wayward son of a wealthy family, no one is surprised when he acts like a typical chaebol’s kid.”</p>
<p>“Hey!” Wooyoung yelled. “I am <em>not</em>.”</p>
<p>“Which,” Yunho asked, “a wayward son or a chaebol’s kid?”</p>
<p>“He’s both,” San interjected.</p>
<p>“And you’re both unfair.” Wooyoung scowled at them. “What’s that?”</p>
<p>San lifted the box he was carrying. “Chocolate cake. What else?”</p>
<p>“You couldn’t get cookies? Or ice cream?”</p>
<p>“It’s Yeosang.”</p>
<p>Wooyoung sighed. “Yeah, I know. He likes them all. But chocolate cake…”</p>
<p>Yunho tied off another balloon and handed it over. Wooyoung, tape in hand, debated placement.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna go set this on the kitchen counter,” San said. “Anything needing doing there?”</p>
<p>“Nah,” Yunho replied. “We figured snacks, drinks, games, then order food.”</p>
<p>“Chicken,” San and Wooyoung chorused.</p>
<p>“Do you think Yeosang is more obsessed with chicken than he is with sweets?” Yunho inquired. “Just as a matter of curiosity.”</p>
<p>All three briefly fell silent.</p>
<p>“I think he needs both to live,” San decided, and walked to the kitchen. He peeked back at the other two after carefully placing the cake box on the counter, then darted to his room. The others in sweats, and he was in uniform. Way less comfortable.</p>
<p>As he was changing, he distantly heard the apartment door open and close. Wooyoung’s voice was loud in welcome. He hurriedly pulled on a short-sleeved shirt and walked back to the living room. Yeosang was staring at the balloons, arranged in a ragged star shape on the wall. His mouth quivered.</p>
<p>“It’s…lovely,” Yeosang said, one hand gesturing to the design.</p>
<p>As if his slight movement was a magical command, a barely secured balloon began to fall. It drifted to his feet, all eyes upon it. He began to giggle. Yunho clapped a hand against his mouth, grinning. Wooyoung laughed, picked Yeosang up and swung him around.</p>
<p>San was enchanted. He’d seen Yeosang smile and grin, heard him laugh, but never heard him giggle. He was adorable.</p>
<p>An hour later, empty beer bottles and depleted bags of snacks were scattered around the living room. Yunho and San raced each other on the console. Wooyoung and Yeosang watched from an armchair nearby. Wooyoung had warned him, but San hadn’t known Yeosang could get <em>that</em> clingy. But there he was, in track pants and a loose shirt, curled up in Wooyoung’s lap.</p>
<p>“San, dude! You just crashed your car into the wall <em>again</em>.”</p>
<p>“Accident. I’ll beat you yet!”</p>
<p>“I’m starved,” Wooyoung announced. “I’m gonna go look at delivery menus in the kitchen. Get up, Yeosang, I’ll be back soon.” He stood with the other, then walked him a few paces over and gave him a soft push. He plopped down next to San, who immediately tensed up.</p>
<p>He glared at Wooyoung, and got a smirk in return.</p>
<p>“Hey, Yunho, come help me figure out what to order.”</p>
<p>“Sure. San can run practice laps ‘til I come back. Give him at least one win.” He winked, then trailed after Wooyoung.</p>
<p>“Chicken!” Yeosang called after them. “Get chicken!”</p>
<p>“You think I don’t know that’s required?” Wooyoung hollered back.</p>
<p>Satisfied, he beamed, then turned to San, his attention tightly focused on the game.</p>
<p>“San-ah,” Yeosang sang as he latched onto his arm.</p>
<p>“Yes?” San bit out.</p>
<p>Yeosang drew back and frowned at him. “Why are you mad at me? What did I do?”</p>
<p>“I…,” San glanced at the other’s slightly pouting face. He wished paper cuts on Wooyoung and Yunho. “You didn’t do anything wrong, you’re fine. Just…playing the game until they get back.”</p>
<p>“Hm. Okay. I’ll watch you play, then,” he said with a smile, tucking his legs underneath him and curling against San.</p>
<p>“I can’t play very well if you’re pressed this close to me."</p>
<p>“Oh?” Yeosang drew back. “It’s never a problem for Wooyoungie. Is he a better player than you?” His eyes glittered as he leaned forward and looked at San expectantly.</p>
<p>“He is not! If you look at high scores, they’re all mine!” San retorted indignantly.</p>
<p>“Then what?”</p>
<p>“It’s just…you’re heavy. I’m not used to playing with someone leaning on my arm with their full weight.”</p>
<p>“Okay.” Yeosang slid down the couch and laid his head on San’s thigh. “Better? It’s weird watching the game from this angle, but if it helps, I’ll manage.” He patted San’s knee. “You’re more slender than Wooyoung, but you’re not a bad pillow. All that gym-love.” And he giggled softly.</p>
<p>That laugh would be the death of him.</p>
<p>“But can you, I dunno, relax your muscles?” Yeosang asked as he looked at the screen. “You’re sitting all stiff.”</p>
<p>San’s hands briefly stilled on the controller. Determinedly, he relaxed the muscles in his legs.</p>
<p>“Ah, nicer,” Yeosang said happily. And continued to watch the game. Which San did not play as well as he normally did.</p>
<p>Wooyoung strolled back into the living room, the smirk faintly reappearing on his face. “When you lose this round, it’s my turn against Yunho.”</p>
<p>Yeosang lightly rubbed his face against San’s jeans. San’s eyes flickered closed. A crash came from the TV.</p>
<p>“Turn’s up.”</p>
<p>Wordlessly, San handed Wooyoung the controller. Yunho, uncapping another bottle of beer, walked swiftly into the room and resumed his seat.</p>
<p>“All set?” Wooyoung asked, but his eyes were on San.</p>
<p>“Yep,” Yunho responded.</p>
<p>“Cool.”</p>
<p>Both men stared intently at the screen, the shifting of gears and squealing of tires filling the silence. San watched the gameplay, and then glanced down at Yeosang. A mistake. He was looking straight at him.</p>
<p>“San is handsome, isn’t he, Yunho?”</p>
<p>His face flushing, he stared back at the TV.</p>
<p>“Guess so,” Yunho replied.</p>
<p>“Aw, but look at him! He is! Isn’t he, Wooyoungie?”</p>
<p>“I dunno. I see him with messy hair and ugly pajama shorts too often. You tell me what’s handsome about him.”</p>
<p>Did this count as threatening a police officer? Could he arrest Wooyoung?</p>
<p>Yeosang reached up. “Hm. Jawline.” Featherlight touches followed his words. “Lovely mouth.” His thumb tapped the other’s lips. “Kind eyes. Except when he’s mad. Then he looks dangerous.” He stroked his cheekbones. “You have really good bone structure, San-ah.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” San said, voice half-strangled.</p>
<p>“Welcome,” Yeosang replied, before settling in to watch the game.</p>
<p>Hesitantly, San raised a hand to lay on the other's head.</p>
<p>“His hair feels silky, doesn’t it?” Wooyoung called out, eyes flashing over them. “Gold really suits you. Not as much fun as changing it up more frequently, but you look good.”</p>
<p>Yeosang eyed him disapprovingly. “Says the man who began bleaching and dyeing his hair at 17. Only reason you didn’t go bald early was having to go super short and natural during enlistment and your scalp got a two-year rest. But then back to the bottle! It’s purple now. Horses would mistake your hair for <em>straw</em>.”</p>
<p>San snorted.</p>
<p>“And now I have this visual of a horse chewing on Wooyoung’s split ends,” Yunho said. “I’m going to have nightmares tonight. Hungry horses roaming the streets of Seoul, chasing down the colorfully inclined.”</p>
<p>Looking back down at Yeosang's shining hair, San gently smoothed his hand over it.</p>
<p>“See? Silk!”</p>
<p>He made to pull back, but the other quickly turned his head, trapping his hand.</p>
<p>“That felt nice. Do it again?”</p>
<p>With an inward sigh, San nodded.  He had not saved the world in a past life. He must have committed grave errors to be punished like this. Yeosang twisted back to face the TV, San stroking his hair as they watched the other two crow in delight and yell in frustration.</p>
<p>The apartment buzzer rang.</p>
<p>“Food!” Yeosang chirped, and immediately sat up. “Come with.”</p>
<p>It was a strange situation, San reflected, as he pushed his shoes back on and walked to the elevator, the apartment door clunking shut behind them as the other two played on. He had met him as an instructor, his senior in experience, if not in age. He had a job catching physically dangerous criminal shifters. Yeosang had just been hired for an unknown job that had <em>better</em> be legal. And here he was, quietly following him as they made their way to the main desk, signed for the food, then rode the elevator back upstairs.</p>
<p>Entering the apartment, switching back to slippers, he let Yeosang lead the way into the living room with the bags of food. “This bag of chicken is <em>mine</em>,” he declared.</p>
<p>“Not all of it,” Wooyoung grumbled.</p>
<p>“Oh, please. You got me a non-spicy order of chicken, that’s in this bag along with rice and everything—the larger bag is spicy and crunchy for the rest of you.” He set the bags down on the low table. “Stop playing to eat.” He handed out cartons of take out, dropping a kiss on Wooyoung’s head as he passed by.</p>
<p>A shiver of jealousy ran through San, until Yeosang scrunched up his mouth. “Yep. Straw.”</p>
<p>“I do conditioning,” Wooyoung protested, before popping chicken into his mouth.</p>
<p>“Really? Then why is your hair the Sahara, in dead protein strands?”</p>
<p>Yunho cackled. Wooyoung threw a napkin at Yeosang. San smiled.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>After the chicken and chocolate cake, a minor attempt was made to clean up the living room.</p>
<p>“Eh. Tomorrow,” Wooyoung said dismissively.</p>
<p>“I never dreamed I would live in an apartment building that had housekeeping on call,” San mused. “It’s one of the best perks to living here.”</p>
<p>“Better than the gym?” Yeosang teased.</p>
<p>“I spent three years living with Seonghwa-hyung. Every room had to look nice every morning, which meant every night, no matter what, there was cleaning to be done. I love him, and I miss him, but I do not miss <em>that</em>. However…having a gym one elevator stop away? That’s bliss. Going to need it tomorrow, after all I ate and drank.” He grimaced slightly.</p>
<p>“Hm. You have the gym, Wooyoung and I have the dance studio—well, he has <em>two</em>—”</p>
<p>“As if you aren’t over here multiple times a week practicing upstairs with me,” Wooyoung scoffed.</p>
<p>“Oh, so I’m a part-time owner? Sweet. So I have one and a half studios, Wooyoung has two, San has the gym and whatever he does for his job to keep what is, I’ll admit, enviable body proportions, and Yeosang...I never have understood. Did you know, San, that, what, five months ago, Yeosang fought off a mugger?”</p>
<p>“What?” San twisted his body back towards the other, who was waving his hands frantically at Yunho. He stopped when he saw San staring at him.</p>
<p>“Um. Yes. And I got lucky. Let’s watch a drama before we call it a night, okay? Where’s the remote, Wooyoung?”</p>
<p>“There aren’t any good dramas on tonight. Storytime is much more fun.”</p>
<p>“Fine, then you tell the story about how you accidentally got engaged to the daughter of—”</p>
<p>“Yeosang,” Yunho interrupted disapprovingly. “That’s a secret. I’m sure San wouldn’t tell, but it’s a secret. Your mugger story isn’t, though why you’re embarrassed by it, I don’t understand.”</p>
<p>“I’m not embarrassed. It’s just a short, stupid story of me being lucky.”</p>
<p>“Lucky stories are always interesting,” San remarked mildly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”</p>
<p>“Because Yeosang and talking about himself are mutually exclusive concepts,” Yunho announced.</p>
<p>“So are Yunho and alcohol tolerance,” Yeosang retorted.</p>
<p>“Are not.”</p>
<p>“Jeong Yunho, I can drink you under the table any day, any night, and you know it.”</p>
<p>“Which also doesn’t make sense. I’m big. You’re…little. How can you drink so much soju, or beer, or anything, and not only do you not gain weight, you’re just…never drunk?”</p>
<p>“Oh, God,” Wooyoung groaned. “How much did you drink tonight?”</p>
<p>“Too much,” Yeosang said firmly. “Go to bed, Yunho.”</p>
<p>“I am <em>not</em> drunk. You just don’t want San to hear your story. Why?”</p>
<p>“Because you’re making me sound impressive, and I wasn’t. Hongjoong-hyung was with me. You know that, and you omitted it.” Yeosang stared pleadingly at San, whose eyes had widened at the name.</p>
<p>“I would have brought him up. I wouldn’t have lied. But you still kicked a mugger’s ass. Kim Hongjoong handled the other two, I know, but you didn’t sit down on the curb and just watch.”</p>
<p>“As I told you at the time,” Yeosang said carefully, his eyes locked with San’s, “I saw an opportunity for a distraction and surprised the third guy with a lucky punch he didn’t see coming.”</p>
<p>San gave him a slight nod, and he relaxed.</p>
<p>“You had a black eye, though,” Wooyoung commented.</p>
<p>“Fights in movies where one punch knocks someone out are lies,” San declared. “He probably came right back at you, didn’t he?”</p>
<p>“You sound like you were there,” Yunho said with surprise.</p>
<p>“I do work for the police,” San reminded him. “Most fights are predictable.”</p>
<p>“Oh!” Wooyoung brightened. “There was actually a new detective drama starting this week. I forgot I recorded the first two episodes. Wanna watch?”</p>
<p>San groaned. “It’s going to be entirely inaccurate.”</p>
<p>“It’s a drama,” Wooyoung responded. “It’s not like they're true to life.”</p>
<p>He sighed. “Fine, fine. But if I fall asleep from sheer boredom, don’t wake me.”</p>
<p>He made it halfway through the first episode before the food, the late hour, and the entirely ridiculous plot knocked him out. Coming to, later, he blinked slowly. Someone had moved him to his bedroom. How had he stayed asleep through that? Yunho could easily pick him up, he had no doubt, but he wasn’t quiet. But no way could Yeosang have moved him…could he? He looked at his clock. 3:40 a.m. He sighed. No getting answers this time of night. It didn’t really matter, but it was…odd. Then again, maybe not. He had no real idea how strong his friend was. If he was a normal human, impossible: San was bigger and a little taller. Picking him up from the couch, carrying him down the hallway, and putting him down on his bed without him waking at all? It was only even a possibility because nothing else made enough sense. Slowly and quietly, mindful that the guest room next to his was occupied, he crept over to his desk and booted up his laptop. Once he’d established a secure connection to the bureau database, he started searching for reports filed by Kim Hongjoong.</p>
<p>Many were sealed; his security level wasn’t high enough. Well, that at least limited the number of files he could look through. Yunho hadn’t been drunk, but he had been drinking. Five months might be four or it might be six. He went back six months and began reading.</p>
<p>Four and a half months ago. He sat back and stared at the computer screen. Four and a half months ago, Officer Kim Hongjoong and <em>Intern</em> Kang Yeosang had engaged with three Level 1 wolf shifters. Officer Kim had sustained minor cuts, Intern Kang a black eye and bruised ribs, Doctor Lee Minjae, attending. Intern. Interning with the bureau at the same time he was a research assistant…for a project related to shifters. San pressed his hands against his eyes. He wasn’t sure he should keep doing this, but Yeosang had to know he would have gone digging into the files once he had clearance. He’d meant to, he remembered, but had forgotten, immersed in training, and then work, with every hour filled.</p>
<p>He went back to the search bar and typed in Kang Yeosang. He left all the other fields empty, and hit enter. Application, initial evaluation, and a list of reports filed by Kim Hongjoong filled the screen, dating back two years, not long after his military discharge. The application contained information he already knew. The initial evaluation and three-fourths of the reports were all sealed. “Classified” echoed in his head.</p>
<p>“What have you been doing?” he whispered.</p>
<p>The reports he could access were similar to the one he had first searched for. Officer Kim and Intern Kang, again and again. No one else was mentioned. He suddenly recalled Wooyoung’s words of weeks ago. “He was Yeosang’s trainer in the battalion—and has been his mentor since.” His flatmate didn’t know how much of a mentor he was. Or why he would absolutely come running straight from work when Yeosang had collapsed after that disastrous morning with Gyeowool. Where had he taken him? He doubted it was on file anywhere.</p>
<p>He scrolled carefully through the files, looking at the report dates. Only one or two per month…same frequency as his lunches with Kim Hongjoong. Were the lunches briefings, with the reports filed later? That seemed…likely.</p>
<p>That he had questioned Yeosang’s ability to evaluate him for his own current position was now loaded with irony. All his training in that battalion, his missions then and after—San’s few months in Seoul paled in comparison. “More idiot-ish than an idiot. You had no way to know.” He sighed. No surprise the new job required an NDA. His normal level of security clearance as an “intern” was already high. Had he been all that far off when he’d joked about him being a spy? No, too risky when you factored in the uncontrollable inherited traits. It made sense the reports were just the two of them. More people, more difficulties.</p>
<p>What kind of job would require an NDA, a month’s probationary period, and be partly based from home, though? He was stumped. He wondered what was in the sealed reports. Did he act as a decoy, or a surprise tactic? Was part of Kim Hongjoong’s storied career due to Yeosang’s abilities? Maybe, but if it was a crucial role, he didn’t see Yeosang leaving someone he was so devoted to. Someone who had protected him from whatever went on in that battalion. He shuddered, then yawned. Almost 6:30 a.m., and he was due at work by 9:00 for a shift and a half. He logged out of the database and stretched. Gym or the pool? The pool would be less crowded, and he could swim laps faster than he could finish a complete gym routine. He’d be too exhausted for either this evening.</p>
<p>He gently closed the laptop. Quick swim, quick shower, quick breakfast, quick subway ride—then a long day. A long day of <em>not</em> thinking about Yeosang touching his face and his mouth, then calmly lying down while San tried not to lose his mind.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Who hired Yeosang?</p>
<p>And oh, San. Good luck with your day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wooyoung and his ideas.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Hi.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Aren’t you at work?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
The infirmary.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
How bad?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Not too?<br/>
We keep anti-venom in the cars, so…<br/>
I’m just sitting through an IV treatment.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Snake, serpent, or scorpion?</p><p>San smiled wryly. It was weirdly relaxing to know Yeosang knew exactly what this was like…even if he didn’t know that <em>he</em> knew he knew.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Scorpions.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Plural??<br/>
There is literally no other shifter.<br/>
I find creepier.<br/>
Than a scorpion.<br/>
All the rest?<br/>
One form or another.<br/>
Scorpions?<br/>
They stop in the middle.<br/>
Like a bad horror film.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That! Is a perfect description.<br/>
I am so glad I’m a tracker and not a jailor.<br/>
Seeing them every day? No thank you.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Shifter jailors deserve raises.<br/>
If they ever strike?<br/>
Photos of scorpion shifters.<br/>
On posters.<br/>
As they march.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How do you think these things up?<br/>
If I have nightmares tonight, it’s your fault.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
I hope not.<br/>
You need sleep.<br/>
To heal.<br/>
And because you won’t get much.<br/>
Tomorrow night.</p><p>San looked up at the ceiling. Did he have to phrase it that way? Whatever the reason, and he was sure it was logical, did he <em>really</em> have to phrase it that way, after last night and the touching and the compliments and—new mantra: scorpion shifters on posters. Better than a cold shower. Best mood-killer he’d ever heard of. Scorpion shifters on posters. Right.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Why…?</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
You know Yunho is a sweetheart.<br/>
Right?<br/>
But he felt “challenged.”<br/>
By the tolerance call-out.<br/>
Wooyoung wants to reward.<br/>
Their advanced class.<br/>
For winning something.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I recall Yunho conceding defeat in that area.<br/>
I’m tired, but I do recall that.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Your memory serves you well.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I’m not following the rewarding idea, tho.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
They’re throwing a big party.<br/>
Tomorrow night.<br/>
The reward.<br/>
And the challenge.<br/>
Are just excuses.<br/>
Per Wooyoung:<br/>
“Last night wasn’t as fun as I wanted it to be.”</p><p>Scorpion shifters on posters. Scorpion shifters on posters. Scorpion shifters on posters.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You did warn me there were downsides.<br/>
But the timing on this…</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Pretty bad.<br/>
You could…<br/>
You could stay at my place.<br/>
But if you do…<br/>
Zero guarantee your room stays holy.</p><p><em>What</em> had he done in his past lives to deserve this? What? Seriously, what?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Holy?</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Remember the drunken people.<br/>
With no place to go.<br/>
Crashing at Wooyoung’s?<br/>
They’ll crash in your bed.<br/>
If you’re not in it.<br/>
Depending on who’s crashing…</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You have got to be kidding me.</p><p>
  <strong>NoFilter:</strong><br/>
Nope.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Excuse me while I text my flatmate.</p><p>San took a deep breath. Yeosang’s apartment was lovely, but small. And he just couldn’t. He had zero interest in sleeping on the couch. <em>Ever</em>. His arm throbbed. He was exhausted. He was being given three days off to recover. He wanted to sleep in his own damn bed. But there had to be a party.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
When did you have this bright idea?<br/>
When were you going to tell me?<br/>
Tomorrow, when the first people showed up?<br/>
Hm?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
I was going to tell you when you got home.<br/>
You said not to text you during work hours.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Have you heard of e-mail?<br/>
I can check e-mail anytime.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Why would I e-mail you when I can tell you in person?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Fine. But your timing is shit.<br/>
I got stung by a scorpion shifter today.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
That sounds bad.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It <em>is</em> bad.<br/>
Like they’ve given me three days off to rest bad.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Oh.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I know it’s your place.<br/>
I know I don’t pay much.<br/>
But is there any way you can reschedule this?<br/>
For next weekend?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
We already invited everyone.<br/>
If I had known I promise I wouldn’t have.<br/>
I thought it was a good idea.<br/>
Since last night didn’t end so well.<br/>
Poor Yeosang had to help me drag Yunho to a room.<br/>
<em>After</em> he carried you to yours.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yeosang…did what?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Carried you to your room.<br/>
You didn’t know he could do that?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I didn’t <em>know</em>.<br/>
But it vaguely crossed my mind.<br/>
As a possibility.<br/>
Which is now confirmed.<br/>
Well.<br/>
That’s…interesting.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Yunho offered.<br/>
Yeosang refused.<br/>
You should have seen the look on Yunho’s face.<br/>
I think he thought Yeosang had been powerlifting?</p><p>San burst out laughing. A nurse shushed him.</p><p>“Sorry. I’m so sorry.” He bowed to her as well as he could, from his seated position.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I wish I could’ve seen it.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Hm…the look on Yunho’s face?<br/>
Or...the look on Yeosang’s?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Shut up.<br/>
But wait.<br/>
If Yunho offered, he was awake.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Yeah, then.<br/>
Not half an hour later, when Yeosang had you settled.<br/>
And tucked in.<br/>
I wish I could see <em>your</em> face right now.<br/>
:D</p><p>His hand tightened around the infirmary cot sheets.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Wooyoung…if you could see my face right now…<br/>
It would only be for a second.<br/>
Did Yeosang never tell you I have a black belt in taekwondo?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Noted.<br/>
Backing away.<br/>
For what it’s worth, tho?<br/>
I was thinking of The Dilemma.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
The Dilemma?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Yeosang and the mental block and you.<br/>
Trilemma?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How the hell would a party help?<br/>
A party which seems destined for drunkenness.<br/>
With guests who up the risks to Yeosang’s peace of mind?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
There are always people around, San!<br/>
What’s the option?<br/>
He lives like a hermit?<br/>
Yeosang likes people. Mostly.<br/>
He just doesn’t like the effect.<br/>
Though let’s be real.<br/>
He’s so good-looking he’d get attention no matter what.<br/>
But he’ll be fine. He’s used to it.<br/>
He is <em>not</em> used to seeing you pursued.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Excuse me?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Jealousy.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
JUNG WOOYOUNG!<br/>
HOW ARE YOU EVEN DARING THAT THINKING?<br/>
AFTER GYEOWOOL?<br/>
I WILL HIRE MOVERS TODAY AND LEAVE IF YOU ARE.<br/>
NOT KIDDING.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
I would never.<br/>
If told I had to choose between Yeosang and dancing?<br/>
I’d quit dancing and keep my friend’s sanity intact.<br/>
You were not there that day.<br/>
I was.<br/>
Nothing I say will express how much hatred and anger I felt.<br/>
I am not that kind of person.<br/>
I make an exception for her.<br/>
All I’m doing is fast-tracking reality.<br/>
I just phrased it badly.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I have no idea what that means.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
I’d call last night major progress.<br/>
I mean…he’s clingy to me.<br/>
But touching like that?<br/>
If he didn’t have that mental block…<br/>
I’d have been shoving you both into a room.<br/>
Well.<br/>
Maybe <em>I</em> wouldn’t have needed to.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I will blame you both if I cannot sleep tonight.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
What?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I never thought I would be so grateful for the image of<br/>
scorpion shifters on posters of striking shifter jailors.<br/>
I have been trying <em>not</em> to think about that part of last night.<br/>
ALL. DAMN. DAY.<br/>
I’m still stuck in the infirmary.<br/>
Where there are people.<br/>
Scorpion shifters on posters.<br/>
Scorpion shifters on posters.<br/>
And if you make one single joke about this.<br/>
I will tell your trainer you want to date her.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
SAN!<br/>
NO!<br/>
NO!<br/>
SAN, I AM SO SORRY.<br/>
PLEASE DON’T DO THAT.<br/>
I’ll stop I’ll stop I’ll stop.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Good.<br/>
I’m tired.<br/>
I’m in pain.<br/>
I feel slightly crazy.<br/>
Do not push me.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
I won’t.<br/>
Um.<br/>
By fast-tracking reality I just meant that.<br/>
Because parties will happen.<br/>
Let’s say it was next weekend.<br/>
And I am so sorry about it not being that.<br/>
But let’s say it was.<br/>
You’d be there.<br/>
He’d be there.<br/>
The people I invited will be there.<br/>
Yunho is straight as can be, but he’s right.<br/>
Your body? Enviable.<br/>
And you’re very good-looking.<br/>
I really didn’t know Yeosang would react like that when I prompted him.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
…<br/>
I’m not in my right mind.<br/>
I know this because…<br/>
Go on.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Yeosang did date people before we all met him.<br/>
He has a slightly younger cousin, Jongho.<br/>
He stayed here for a week before he enlisted.<br/>
And the stories he told.<br/>
Not about college.<br/>
Just about high school.<br/>
I mean, we know the effect amps it up.<br/>
But he is beautiful.<br/>
And kind. And smart.<br/>
No one ever said no.<br/>
How he didn’t get a disgusting ego is a miracle.<br/>
Also, his mother didn’t raise him like that.<br/>
This is all from Jongho.<br/>
I assume his first two years of college were the same.<br/>
Then, well, everything changed.<br/>
And then Gyeowool.<br/>
I don’t think he knows what jealousy feels like.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Why would I want him to be jealous?<br/>
It’s a horrible feeling.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Agreed.<br/>
It’d be nice if he didn’t.<br/>
But even if there was no party this weekend.<br/>
Or next weekend.<br/>
At some point, especiallyafterthewholetouchingthingpleasedonttellmytrainerIwantodateher,<br/>
he will notice other people looking at you.<br/>
Someone might ask him for your number.<br/>
And I am 100% certain he will not like that.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Sigh.<br/>
Even if he felt jealous, how would that help?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Because I saw his face last night.<br/>
When he refused Yunho’s offer.<br/>
It wasn’t jealous…he knows Yunho isn’t a threat.<br/>
Well. “Knows.”<br/>
But it was like…a mix of startled confusion and possessiveness?<br/>
Jealousy is right around the corner.<br/>
I’d rather fast-track that for him, and get it over with.<br/>
Also…I don’t know what he will do?<br/>
I know everyone who’ll be here tomorrow night.<br/>
I’m pretty sure which person will approach you first.<br/>
You're his type: very fit but lean, shorter than him, good listener.<br/>
But he's laid-back. He won’t get upset if Yeosang interrupts.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
He.<br/>
What if it’s a she?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
That is a possibility…he might run late.<br/>
But probably, of this group, more people are going to be drawn to Yeosang.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Brilliant.<br/>
So I suffer through watching that.<br/>
And watching him be uncomfortable.<br/>
That’s nice of you.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Will you just WAIT.<br/>
This was never going to be easy.<br/>
We are fighting off one bitch of a trauma.<br/>
Though he is so much better.<br/>
I promise you.<br/>
And why would you sit and watch?<br/>
That’s stupid.<br/>
Camp out next to him.<br/>
Fight them off.<br/>
And—you know what.<br/>
I’m not saying more.<br/>
This won’t work if you know too much.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Wooyoung…</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
What, are you going to give your number to someone else?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Hell, no.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Then just accept that there are risks involved, but he’s worth it.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You’re dangerously persuasive.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
How do you think I got my parents to back the studio?</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Please never go into politics.</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
No plans on it.<br/>
Oh.<br/>
There is a theme.<br/>
Goth light.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
What does that even mean?</p><p>
  <strong>Smiles:</strong><br/>
Whatever you want it to.<br/>
Most people go for black clothes and eyeliner.<br/>
Some do more.<br/>
You do you.<br/>
I promise not to bother you tonight or tomorrow.<br/>
Just rest.</p><p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Okay.<br/>
I’ll…try.</p><p>San locked his phone and stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. Startled confusion and possessiveness. He tried to imagine it. He couldn’t. Why did black clothes and eyeliner sound familiar? He unlocked his phone and went to Yeosang’s Instagram page and scrolled down. Oh, right. There was the pink hair. He was cute back then. Wait. He scrolled back up, slowly. He looked at the picture. Scrolled back up to the top of the page, to the selca Yeosang had posted several weeks back, dressed all in black, leaning against the tree. He mentally put the two images together and felt dizzy. Wooyoung was evil.</p><p>***</p><p>When San came home, he stumbled to his room, and shut the door. He’d eaten at the canteen before leaving, and it was now late afternoon. He probably had twenty-four hours before party prep began, and for once, the gym was not included. His uniform coat had been torn, and left at the division to be sent out with the other damaged clothes for repairs. It would be ready when he came back, he’d been assured. With nothing to properly hang up, he stripped as he slowly made his way to the shower. He’d pick it all up later. The nurse had said lukewarm showers only—anything was okay, as long as he got the grime and dust off him. He turned on the water and was about to step in when he remembered his socks. He sighed, then leaned down to peel them off and throw them behind him. With cautious attention to his right arm, still sore, he got in and let the water wash over him. Scorpion shifters really were the worst. Two of the men on his team had been stung on the necks, and were in the hospital. He and the remaining three members had lesser injuries. Not too bad. Dangerous as they were, holding onto the mid-shift position took enough of their focus that a team of trackers could split up, some fighting with staffs to block strikes, the rest using tranquilizer guns. The one who’d stung him had been trying to smash the tranq out of his hands—must’ve been a Level 3, since its control wasn’t precise. But he could cope. Gently, he cleaned off the dirt and sweat, then let the water rinse it all away. Slowly, he stepped out, and carefully dried off. He made a face at himself in the mirror. He needed a haircut.</p><p>Back in his room, he pulled on underwear, locked the door from the inside—maybe he could persuade Wooyoung to let him pay for a locksmith, so he’d never have to worry about people stealing into his room in the future—turned off the light, and crawled gratefully into bed. As he lay in the dim room, half-asleep, he wondered what he owned that was “goth light”? A black tee shirt and black jeans. That would have to be enough. He supposed some of the students would take it further. He laughed softly. He couldn’t even imagine Yunho. Wooyoung…he yawned. Yeah, he’d go for it. If he didn’t dye his hair again, it’d be a miracle. Yeosang…he sighed, too exhausted to dwell on it…he’d just have to wait and see. His eyes closed, and he fell asleep.</p><p>***</p><p>There was a hard knock on his door.</p><p>“San,” Wooyoung called from the other side.</p><p>Wasn’t he supposed to let him sleep in? Not bother him?</p><p>“What?” he called back, irritably.</p><p>The door eased open. “I thought you might want food before people started to show up, that’s all. Don’t have to be grouchy.”</p><p>“Before people…what time is it?”</p><p>“About 3:00 or so?”</p><p>“In the morning?”</p><p>“San, why would I wake you up at 3:00 in the morning? Would sunlight be coming in through the window if it was night?” Wooyoung sounded amused.</p><p>“Holy shit, the med staff weren't kidding about sleeping.” He paused. “I’m starving.”</p><p>Wooyoung laughed. “I figured. Do you feel any better? Where you got stung?”</p><p>“My arm? Uh…yeah, actually. I’ll get up and…order something, I guess?”</p><p>“No need,” the other said cheerfully. “Pizza’s here.”</p><p>“Pizza.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Your trainer lets you eat pizza.”</p><p>“Three times a month.”</p><p>“Wooyoung…you are so weak for her.”</p><p>“She knows best.”</p><p>“Hmm.”</p><p>“Shut up. Do you want food now or do you want to have to order and wait?”</p><p>San’s stomach grumbled.</p><p>“Now, please,” he said politely.</p><p>“Good. You’re going to need all your strength for tonight.”</p><p>“Using a doomsday movie voice isn’t scaring me. Get out.”</p><p>“Okay…but San…you should be scared…tonight there are <em>plans</em>. And I’m assuming you won’t want Yeosang clinging <em>to me</em>?”</p><p>San threw his pillow at the door. Wooyoung’s giggles sounded in the hallway.</p><p>If tonight worked…stop yourself, Choi San. Guessing what Yeosang would say or do was an exercise in futility. He needed food.</p><p>Thirty minutes later, he stared in shock at the locksmith Wooyoung was ushering into the apartment.</p><p>“You look like a fish.”</p><p>San snapped his mouth shut. He’d just <em>thought</em> it last night, and here it was, in reality?</p><p>After guiding the man to the correct door, Wooyoung returned to the counter, settled back on his stool, and picked up a slice of pizza.</p><p>“Stop staring at me like that. It’s weird.”</p><p>“He’s a locksmith…”</p><p>“That’s what he does.”</p><p>“I have an inside lock.”</p><p>“Yeah. Can I eat?”</p><p>“Wooyoung.”</p><p>With an exasperated sigh, the other put the slice down.</p><p>“I should have done it after you got settled. You deserve total privacy. You’ll have the only key. If you lose it, you pay to get it fixed.”</p><p>“I should pay today.”</p><p>“Can’t do. He’s already been paid.”</p><p>They were both silent for a few seconds.</p><p>“I knew you’d dye your hair again. But black. Huh.”</p><p>“Now we match." Wooyoung batted his eyelashes, and grinned when San rolled his eyes. "What’d you expect with a goth theme?”</p><p>“Goth? Or goth light? There’s a big difference.”</p><p>“Goth <em>light</em>, but saying it each time sounds stupid.”</p><p>“Just wanted to be sure. Nothing I own stands up to a full goth look. No music today?”</p><p>“I told you I wouldn’t bother you. So you could rest.”</p><p>“Are you being extra nice because you feel guilty for springing this party?”</p><p>“Maybe.”</p><p>“Good. You were starting to make me emotional.”</p><p>“San, don’t you dare!” Wooyoung looked at him in alarm.</p><p>The apartment door clicked open and Yeosang walked in, rolling a small piece of luggage behind him.</p><p>“Yeosang,” Wooyoung cried out in relief. “Friend of my heart. Save me!”</p><p>“Your hair is black.”</p><p>“Obviously.”</p><p>“I have now lost count of the dye jobs. You’re going to go bald early.” He paused. “Maybe dig up some photos of your grandfather so you know what you’ll look like in two years.”</p><p>San’s shoulders started to shake.</p><p>“You’re so mean.”</p><p>“If your scalp were alive—which it’s not, because you’ve killed it—it would applaud my honest attempts on its behalf. Yet I am a failed savior. What else do you want me to do?’</p><p>“Stop San being emotional. It’s upsetting.”</p><p>“If you’re upset, that means you’re emotional. If you complain about him being emotional while you’re emotional, that makes you a hypocrite. You sure you want me stepping into this?”</p><p>San struggled for air. “He hired. A locksmith. For my door.”</p><p>“Oh,” Yeosang said gravely. “That’s serious, Wooyoung. Hypocrisy when he’s simply grateful for your act of respect for the holiness of his bedroom?”</p><p>“Nothing in that sentence makes any sense, but it sounds very wrong.”</p><p>“It sounds wrong because your guilt is speaking, Wooyoung. Don’t you remember that party you threw last summer for your cousin’s birthday? I was staying over here because my air conditioning needed repairs. I had to dash downstairs to get some books out of my room—except what did I find there? No, not what. Whom?”</p><p>Wooyoung flushed bright red.</p><p>“Your cousin and his girlfriend. Because they were tired of the random dance play in the living room area, not interested in the mafia game in the upstairs guest room, didn’t want to help you make food in the kitchen, and the other guest rooms were occupied by people with similar mindsets—but at least <em>they</em> had the decency to stay fully clothed. Me? I walk into a lingerie runway show meant for an audience of one. And <em>why</em>? Because there was no damn lock on my door.”</p><p>Tears were streaming down San’s face.</p><p>“To your credit,” Yeosang said reflectively, “you did come running when I yelled at them. You did try to get them dressed. But they were too drunk.”</p><p>“Which of course meant you <em>had</em> to get a bucket of water and dump it on them!” Wooyoung threw back at him.</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>“I had to order a new mattress set because of you!”</p><p>“If there had been a lock on my door, that wouldn’t have happened. And you didn’t order a new mattress set, you ordered an entire new bed and redecorated the whole room, because <em>you</em> were scarred, too.”</p><p>“I never wanted to see the cousin I grew up with like that! I had to erase all traces of him in a G-string!”</p><p>With a wail of defeat, San fell to the floor, convulsed in laughter. Through his blurred vision, he watched the approach of the locksmith, who’d been standing nearby. He cleared his throat and held out a key to Wooyoung, who stifled a moan of embarrassment, accepted it, bowed low, and escorted him back through the main entrance. He imagined Wooyoung trying to apologize on the elevator ride down and a renewed fit of giggles hit him. He could barely breathe, and his sides ached. He could just make out Yeosang, calm as ever, with a slight smile on his face. Slowly, focusing on that calm, he regained control of himself and stood up. Still slightly out of breath, he leaned all his weight against the counter and smiled at his absolute dearest friend.</p><p>“Now that you have a key—or will, once Wooyoung returns—are you going to lock your door and leave? I’ve promised Yunho to participate in his absurd challenge, so I’ll be staying. Hence this,” he poked the upright suitcase with his slipper, “for the ‘goth light’ nonsense.”</p><p>Leave? Tonight? After agreeing to Wooyoung’s weird plan? No.</p><p>“Hm…tempting. But I don’t really have anywhere else to go, and I so want to see Yunho in ‘goth light’—you, too, of course.” He grinned at Yeosang. Careful, careful, careful.</p><p>“Not Wooyoung?”</p><p>“Oh, I expect the most from him. Which is why I am the least curious.”</p><p>“Uh-huh. What do you plan?”</p><p>“Black jeans and a black tee.”</p><p>“Regular jeans or shredded? Loose tee or fitted tee?”</p><p>“Does it matter?”</p><p>“I don’t want you matching me,” Yeosang declared with mock disdain.</p><p>San laughed again.</p><p>“Okay, ow. I need to watch that. Yeosang, I’ll never match you. You’re out of my league.”</p><p>The other shifted uncomfortably. “Don’t talk like that.” He reached for the suitcase handle. “I’m gonna take this to my room. The shirt’s probably wrinkled. Need to steam it.”</p><p>“Hey, wait. Before Wooyoung gets back, are you okay with tonight? This whole drinking thing? And all the people? ‘Cause if you’re not, let’s bail, and Yunho can declare himself champion or whatever.”</p><p>Yeosang smiled softly at him. “You’re sweet, Sanie. It should be fine. Though I won’t object if you hang around me from time to time, in case there are…overly attentive people.” He sighed.</p><p>“I can do that.”</p><p>“They’ll assume you’re with me, you know. Like they have before with Wooyoung. That’s okay?” He peered at San intently.</p><p>“That people assume we’re together?” He was not going to break eye contact. “Always okay.”</p><p>“Oh….” Yeosang nodded rapidly. “I’m just…going to go, then. See you in a while?” He waved at him and turned away, hurrying to his room.</p><p>When the door closed, San took several slow, shaky breaths. Risk a little, Wooyoung had said. Hope and risk.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes, I can picture it, too, the image of that mantra, and it kinda freaks me out.</p><p>"Always okay." Hmm...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yeosang is very busy this entire chapter...but I can't say doing what. Yet. Third person limited POV. Argh.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>San should clean up the food, first, then shower. Then figure out what to wear. Yeosang seemed to have…something planned. He didn’t want to be entirely boring in comparison, but he wasn’t near as stylish. Although he did know someone who was close.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Seonghwa-hyung?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Yes?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
So…Wooyoung is throwing this party tonight.<br/>
With a “goth light” theme.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Just because I went through a phase in high school,<br/>
doesn’t mean I’m the person to ask.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Well, if you’re going to be rude.<br/>
And possibly ruin my chances of looking decent.<br/>
Next to Yeosang….<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Wait a second.<br/>
Next to?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yeah.<br/>
Things sort of…slightly changed recently?<br/>
And there might be reason to hope?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
It took you long enough.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
What?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Aren’t you supposed to be good at detecting things?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Researching and tracking/capturing shifters.<br/>
I’m not a regular detective.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
The lack of overlap is saddening.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Different kind of training.<br/>
Not so focused on humans.<br/>
Or mostly-humans.<br/>
So just <em>explain</em>, okay?</p>
<p>The front door swung open and Wooyoung held it, letting a concierge pass him with a cart full of bakers’ boxes, soju bottles, soda, and snacks. San looked with some misgiving at the heaps of food, and many bottles of alcohol, as they were carefully placed onto the counters and floor. This didn’t include the main meals that’d be ordered after people arrived. How many were showing up tonight? He glanced back down at his phone. No response yet. Wooyoung tipped the employee—it was never going to stop being weird that everyone who worked here worked for his parents, which almost meant they worked for him, too—and closed the door after him.</p>
<p>“Do you have <em>any</em> idea how awful a conversation that was to have with the locksmith? I don’t think he’ll ever show up here again. Here's your key, please don’t lose it. Where’s Yeosang?”</p>
<p>“Unpacking—he said he had to steam his shirt free of wrinkles?” He tucked the key into his shorts’ pocket.</p>
<p>Wooyoung stopped dead. “What are you wearing tonight?”</p>
<p>“Black jeans and a black tee shirt. Don’t have anything else,” he said with resignation.</p>
<p>“I knew it.” He wrinkled his nose. “What kind of jeans and shirt?”</p>
<p>“He asked me the same thing.”</p>
<p>“Did he?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Pretty sure whatever he brought with him is nicer than anything I’ve got.”</p>
<p>“You think? He wears pajama sets to sleep in. You wear boxers. You’re not even on the same plane of fashion existence.”</p>
<p>“Y’know, Wooyoung, I’ve thought about it. A lot. I’m not actively bothered by the fact that he’s slept next to you. But each time you remind me of it, it’s not exactly <em>pleasant</em>.”</p>
<p>“You’re fitting tonight’s theme already: it makes you jealous.”</p>
<p>“I know where your trainer works…”</p>
<p>“Okay! But it does,” he added defiantly.</p>
<p>“Of course it makes me feel jealous,” San agreed. “Which is exactly why I don’t like to think about it. Or be reminded of it.”</p>
<p>“That’s…valid.” Wooyoung sighed. “All this stuff to prep.”</p>
<p>“Why don’t you hire people? You’ve got the money.”</p>
<p>“If I ever have to throw a proper party, I’ll borrow staff from my parents. Until then, no.” Wooyoung opened the fridge. “Hand me the soju?”</p>
<p>San stepped around the stacks on the floor and lifted the first bottle from a carton.</p>
<p>“I should shower,” San grumbled, as he continued to pass bottles of soju and then soda to Wooyoung.</p>
<p>“We still have a few hours before anyone shows up. And your contribution to the theme is jeans and a tee shirt.” Wooyoung snorted. “You’ll be ready so quickly, you’ll probably play computer games until people start showing up anyway.”</p>
<p>“And you won’t?”</p>
<p>“<em>I</em> will be exerting effort with my look.” Wooyoung straightened and closed the fridge door. “Having endured Yeosang’s attacks, I am now able to proceed with confidence.”</p>
<p>San grinned at him. “That was one of the best things I’ve ever seen.”</p>
<p>“People think Yeosangie is a total angel. How he looks. How polite he is.” Wooyoung paused to throw away the pizza boxes. “But if you’re a friend—or an enemy—then you’re at risk when he thinks your decision-making isn’t the smartest.”</p>
<p>“How often has that happened to you?” San asked curiously, as they arranged the baker’s boxes on the dining counter.</p>
<p>“More often than I’d like. But what do you do, when he’s just stating facts?” Wooyoung passed stacks of small, elaborately decorated plates to San. “In the middle. Putting them at the end always means they get knocked over. They’re not breakable, but it makes such a mess.”</p>
<p>“You argued with him. Also, we’re running out of space here.”</p>
<p>“The snacks go in the living room. It’s fine. And I can’t help it. Automatic self-defense mechanism.”</p>
<p>“You didn’t win.”</p>
<p>“People rarely win against Yeosang. Let’s grab a table from the storage closet.” He pushed the empty cartons to the side.</p>
<p>San followed him. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in here before.” He blinked. “This is the size of my bedroom back home.”</p>
<p>Wooyoung pulled a box from the wall and slid a folded table towards San. “Never know what will come in use. It’s organized. In a way. Living room,” he said, as he lifted one end.</p>
<p>Once set up in a cleared corner, San brushed dust off its top and looked around.</p>
<p>“So how many people are coming tonight?”</p>
<p>“Um….” Wooyoung walked back to the kitchen, San trailing after. “Here, you take this box of snacks, I’ll take the other. Oh, wait.” He opened a low cupboard and grabbed a bag of recyclable plates and another of paper napkins and dropped them into San’s box. “Okay.”</p>
<p>“Wooyoung, how many people?” San repeated, as they organized the table’s offerings.</p>
<p>The other was turning in a circle, looking around. He nibbled on his lower lip, then walked across the hallway and opened a panel on the wall. He tapped in a code and waited. A low rumble sounded.</p>
<p>“What in the…?” San stared incredulously at the newly visible triangular room. Walls from the hallway and the entryway had receded. This end of the apartment was suddenly much larger and more open.</p>
<p>Wooyoung was turning on floor lamps.</p>
<p>“You have a secret room.”</p>
<p>“It’s not secret. The panel is visible.” He pointed at it, then walked to a far corner and hauled out a sealed plastic bag of floor cushions.</p>
<p>“I thought it was temperature control or…I don’t know. I’ve lived here less than three full months.”</p>
<p>“Huh.” He looked at San. “Feels longer. But then, I’ve been following you on Instagram for ages.”</p>
<p>“You’ve <em>what</em>?”</p>
<p>“You think I wasn’t going to keep an eye on someone Yeosang kept talking about?” He folded his arms. “Even if it was just through your occasional uploads? Hah. You don’t follow many people back, though, so figures you never noticed.”</p>
<p>“Yeosang never said anything.”</p>
<p>“He probably didn’t think it worth mentioning. Did you ever tell him your Seonghwa-hyung follows his account?”</p>
<p>“No…but he only did that because…”</p>
<p>“Same reason I had. Yeah. Vacuum and dust cloths.” He nodded and walked out.</p>
<p>San gazed around. The air was a little stale, but in a couple hours, any visitors would think this a regularly used room.</p>
<p>Wooyoung returned, pushing a vacuum and holding cloths. “Dusting or vacuuming?”</p>
<p>“Dusting, I guess.” He took the cloths from Wooyoung and as the other ran the lightweight vacuum over the wooden floor, he cleaned the tables, lamps, and sound system. It didn’t take long. Wooyoung headed to the bag of floor cushions as he returned the supplies to the cleaning closet. He came back to a normal, if sparely decorated, room.</p>
<p>“Yeosang only ever said you were on Twitter.”</p>
<p>“Publicly. Insta is locked. I just follow friends. And other people of interest.” He smirked at San.</p>
<p>“Hm. You usually open this room up for parties?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Where do you think the random dance play happened, that Yeosang mentioned earlier?”</p>
<p>“<em>That</em> makes more sense now. I couldn’t picture it in the living room, with all the furniture. So how many people are coming tonight?”</p>
<p>“Twenty-five? Give or take.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Okay.”</p>
<p>“It isn’t that many. And they’ll wander around. But now you have a key to lock your room, so don’t worry.” He brushed his hands together. “This place is set up.”</p>
<p>“Then I’m gonna shower,” San said.</p>
<p>“Hold up! Your arm’s still okay, right? I should’ve thought of that, before asking you to help.” Wooyoung frowned.</p>
<p>Impulsively, San gave him a hug.</p>
<p>“I’m good. Thank you for asking. And for the locksmith. And for tonight. I think.”</p>
<p>Wooyoung bounced on his feet. “You have <em>no clue</em> how happy it makes me, the <em>idea</em> of Yeosang having a reason to get past all the misery that she-demon inflicted.” He grinned at San.</p>
<p>“Are you trying to start an emotional scene again?” San asked suspiciously.</p>
<p>“Gods, no. Get out. Go shower. Shoo.”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir.” San saluted him, and walked back to his room, unlocking the door with a light heart. Yeosang hadn’t reappeared yet. He wasn’t vain, so he couldn’t be spending hours getting ready…confusing. San shook his head and, with some satisfaction, locked the door from the inside.</p>
<p>He made quick work of his shower, carefully pulled on a robe, and was glumly surveying his clothing choices when a text alert sounded. Finally!</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
When I chose this career path, I did not think it through.<br/>
Playing tour guide to wealthy donors who only want to take selcas<br/>
in front of our beautifully arranged exhibits makes me irritable.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Drama-binge irritable?<br/>
Or clean the apartment irritable?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
The second.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
You don’t hate cleaning, tho…</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I will clean the entire apartment tonight.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I see.<br/>
Are you too irritable to answer my question?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You still haven’t figured it out?<br/>
You disappoint me.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I’ve been distracted.<br/>
Besides! I got stung by a scorpion shifter yesterday.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
What????</p>
<p>He smiled. The only way to draw Seonghwa out of judgmental mode: honest play for sympathy.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It’s part of my job.<br/>
Better today, but still sore.<br/>
Got lucky tho. Not in a hospital.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Oh, San-ah…<br/>
Why are you going to a party tonight?<br/>
And not resting?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I slept almost 20 hours already.<br/>
Not making that up.<br/>
And party is here.<br/>
I don’t have to go anywhere.<br/>
If it gets too much, I’ll just go to my room.</p>
<p>If it got too much, he would drag Yeosang to his room with him. To talk to.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You’d better!<br/>
Still, it’s so obvious…<br/>
The blond hair selca.<br/>
Posted the <em>day after</em> that encounter with that person.<br/>
You texted something about him being so on edge,<br/>
he squeezed your hand numb.<br/>
Yet still the second she went after you, he drove her off.<br/>
And he dropped two clues.<br/>
That day, I’ll grant what he said carried a depressing weight.<br/>
But after?<br/>
With that caption about disappointing in-person reactions?<br/>
There was reason to hope <em>then</em>.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
There weren’t two clues.<br/>
Just the sudden awful knowledge of my bad timing.<br/>
If I’d said something before Gyeowool, which I didn’t.<br/>
Like I’m a mind-reader and could’ve known.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I’d threaten to hit you, but you’re hurt.<br/>
He said if you’d said something before her, she would have had no chance.<br/>
That is important. He’d liked you for a while before her.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I…well. Yes. And that hurts.<br/>
But she <em>really</em> wrecked him, hyung.<br/>
I can’t and won’t share all I know, but she left terrible scars.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Given your cautiousness towards him, that seems regrettably true.<br/>
But scars aren’t new wounds.<br/>
What he said that day had a second clue, unspoken:<br/>
he never said if you expressed interest <em>now</em>, he would say no.</p>
<p>San froze. He played back Yeosang’s words to Gyeowool. His comment that nothing he said to her was an exaggeration. His remark today that he’d be glad to have San nearby tonight…though people would assume they were together…and his asking him if he minded. How <em>Yeosang</em> had suddenly seemed nervous when he’d kept up eye contact and said that would always be okay. All this time...was Yeosang trying to get a read on <em>him</em>?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
If I didn’t like my job so much, I’d resign.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Perhaps suggest they include more “regular” detective training.<br/>
Observation, analysis, testing out theories.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That’s science.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
And your job is purely based on guesswork?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Seonghwa-hyung, have a little pity?<br/>
Heart rates this fast aren’t healthy.<br/>
And I’m wounded.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Listen to the imaginary violin.<br/>
You next to Yeosang. Goth light.<br/>
What a dismal prospect.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Can’t you just say boring?<br/>
Dismal sounds hopeless.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Your wardrobe when living with me consisted of jeans, sweats, shorts,<br/>
tee shirts, sweaters, and the office standard attire of your internship.<br/>
Has that changed?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I have my uniform.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
And Yeosang has a superior aesthetic sense.<br/>
Let me think.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Oh! I also have the suit Yeosang bought me.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
He bought you a suit.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yes. The one I had didn't fit.<br/>
He, um, well.<br/>
Wooyoung’s family has a tailor on staff.<br/>
So his friends get steep discounts.<br/>
And I was worried that might be weird since the suit?<br/>
Was for a co-worker’s wedding.<br/>
I don’t know.<br/>
Ethics?<br/>
Yeosang said fine, he’d buy it for me.<br/>
He went with me to the first meeting.<br/>
The other fittings were here at the apartment.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You’re saying Yeosang bought you a personally tailored suit?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Heavily discounted.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
No professional would charge less than hundreds of dollars.<br/>
When a typical pricetag is thousands.<br/>
And he bought that for you.<br/>
Please tell me it’s black.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yes.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Then wear it!<br/>
Why did you even have to ask me??</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Suits aren’t…goth?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Goth light. Whatever that is.<br/>
That thin fitted black sweater I gave you at graduation?<br/>
With the loose sleeves?<br/>
Wear that instead of a shirt and jacket.<br/>
Pair it with the rest of the suit.<br/>
Black shoes and socks, of course.<br/>
You will actually look stylish.<br/>
Send me a photo at some point.<br/>
Have Yeosang take it.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That’s…a really good idea.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I have few bad ideas.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
True.<br/>
Thank you.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You’re welcome.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Not just the clothes.<br/>
The insight.<br/>
I’m not worried anymore.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Don’t act without thinking.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Not being worried isn’t the same as being overconfident.<br/>
Overconfidence around Yeosang is stupid.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I can vouch for that. Unfortunately.</p>
<p>San grinned. That stealth training memory was never going to fade.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Have a good evening, hyung.</p>
<p>He laid his phone down on the desk and stretched. Now just to carefully make it through this evening. He didn’t need to make Yeosang jealous. He just had to make it clear that the interest, the liking, was entirely mutual. He laughed softly. So many times, if he’d just taken the chance that it was flirtation…but no point looking backwards.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well...if you have the money, why not build a secret room you only open for parties?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The clothes described are a combination of various outfits from fansigns and music stages. I just switched them around. </p>
<p>Chapter is a bit longer.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When San walked out of his room into the kitchen, he was not one bit surprised to see Wooyoung there wearing black leather pants. And black boots. A black mesh hoodie over a white shirt. His skin glowed with the contrasts.</p>
<p>“Hey.”</p>
<p>When Wooyoung turned around, he was satisfied. Thick black eyeliner and colored lenses in his eyes. Silver earrings hung from each ear. His hair pushed back in that messy style that took time and product to achieve. Goth light. Yep. Though it was pleasing when Wooyoung’s mouth dropped open on seeing <em>him</em>.</p>
<p>“San? That’s…the suit, right? But that sweater? That…,” he rapidly walked forward and poked him in the chest. “How do you look more defined like this than when we’re playing video games, both of us just in sweats? And this is <em>not</em> jeans and a tee shirt!”</p>
<p>“I texted Seonghwa-hyung for advice. He suggested the outfit change. The sweater was his gift.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well. Then I’m grateful to him. I cannot <em>wait</em> for each of you to see each other. Whenever Yeosang leaves his room. Wait. Look at me like you’re interested.”</p>
<p>“Can’t do.”</p>
<p>“That’s insulting.”</p>
<p>“That I have very specific feelings for a person who’s not you? Hardly. What are you wanting? Compliments? You look great. Happy now?”</p>
<p>“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant…pretend you’re interested.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“Because when Mingi gets here, and starts talking to you, if you look bored, it won’t work.”</p>
<p>“I don’t care.”</p>
<p>“But that’s the whole point.”</p>
<p>“Yesterday, I guess I thought so, too. But not today. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to play games.”</p>
<p>“It won’t hurt him!”</p>
<p>“Me <em>deliberately</em> causing him even five seconds of anxiety isn’t worth it. Your other advice was good. Little risks, little steps.”</p>
<p>“That doesn’t leave Yeosang any safety net when jealousy hits him.”</p>
<p>“Wooyoung. At some point, he’s liked me, right? We agree on that?’</p>
<p>“Yeah, but—”</p>
<p>“We agree. He just has to see that it’s mutual. Which means I stop overthinking, and keep taking small steps. That’s his safety net—not being surprised.”</p>
<p>“What will you do if people approach you when he’s around?”</p>
<p>“Be polite. And not interested. Which is easy, since I’m not.” San shrugged.</p>
<p>“You’re so frustrating. This party was supposed to <em>help</em>.”</p>
<p>“It has.”</p>
<p>“How?”</p>
<p>“A short conversation I had with Yeosang while you were downstairs.”</p>
<p>“<em>And you’re only bringing this up now</em>?”</p>
<p>“Nothing earth-shaking. I’m replacing you tonight.”</p>
<p>“What?” Wooyoung looked confused.</p>
<p>“You’ll see.”</p>
<p>“I could punch you.”</p>
<p>“You could try.” San smiled. “Come on, Wooyoung. It’s a party. You’ve thrown parties before. You told your students it’s a reward, right?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“So, treat it like that. A reward party which Yeosang and I happen to be attending. Does he really have to have a drink-off with Yunho?”</p>
<p>“That was to make sure he showed up.”</p>
<p>“Perfect.”</p>
<p>“I just had a sudden thought, though.” Wooyoung lowered his voice to a whisper. “You know the mythic shifters are super possessive of their, uh, people? What if he <em>does</em> get jealous, and something bad happens?”</p>
<p>San stared at him in disbelief. “I do not understand your brain. Aside from the fact that <em>people</em> can be super possessive of other people, he’s not a shifter,” he whispered back. “And it’s dragons you’re thinking about. Anyone going near their mates gets flamed. Literally.”</p>
<p>“He flames people verbally,” Wooyoung muttered.</p>
<p>“What are you two whispering about?” Yeosang inquired from the hallway.</p>
<p>Awkward.</p>
<p>He walked towards them, and then around, halting with a questioning look. And San’s heart stopped.</p>
<p>Or it felt like it had. Breathe, he told himself. Do not be so dumbstruck, so lovestruck, that you forget to breathe and <em>faint</em> in front of him. But oh, it was difficult. He heard a slight wheeze from Wooyoung. So not just him. Black sneakers with black laces was fine. Fitted black jeans were fine. The designer’s careful shredding of the black denim was not. The flowy black top, its wide neckline drawing attention to the thin black velvet choker, was definitely not. His hair, that beautiful mix of sunshine and gold, swaying gently when he tilted his head to examine them both, looked fairy-tale soft. When he sighed at their continued silence, and brushed his hair from his eyes, the top almost slid off a shoulder. It was entirely unfair.</p>
<p>Wooyoung cleared his throat. “That hand sweep through the hair. That’s my move. You know.” He raised his hand, but remembered the careful styling and stopped.</p>
<p>“I know. I’ve seen you do it hundreds of times. I practiced.”</p>
<p>And with that normal remark, San could breathe regularly again. He was still Yeosang. Just…more, tonight.</p>
<p>“You know you’re going to forget about the hairstyle and do it. But you look good, Wooyoungie! The dead scalp goes so well with the goth theme!”</p>
<p>Wooyoung made a “hmph” noise and spun back to the kitchen counter. San shook his head. Yeosang’s eyes turned towards him. He hesitated. “I like your take. Classy. The suit pants and the sweater. It all fits…very well.” He stepped closer. “The sweater is from Seonghwa-ssi?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Graduation gift. I <em>was</em> going with jeans and a shirt, but it felt…blah? I texted him for advice. He’s stylish, like you. Oh. That reminds me. He asked if you’d take a picture of me, so I can send it to him. Since the outfit was his idea.” He held out his phone. Yeosang hesitated again.</p>
<p>“Mine is a newer model than yours. The photo quality is better. I’ll take your picture with my phone.”</p>
<p>San couldn’t stop his reaction to those words. His chin lifted and his mouth quirked in a half smile. He slid his hands into his pockets and waited. If he hadn’t been staring, he’d have missed the briefly lingering gaze before the photos. But he’d noticed. Nothing one-sided existed between them. Yeosang extended his phone to him.</p>
<p>“Which do you want to send to him?”</p>
<p>He swiped through, and picked the third. “Text it to me?”</p>
<p>“We live in a world of Bluetooth.”</p>
<p>“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be texting it to him. That’ll downgrade the quality.”</p>
<p>“So, don’t text it. Put it on Instagram. You look beautiful, San-ah. The Devil was an angel, too, after all.”</p>
<p>“Yeosang…. All right. What should I caption it?”</p>
<p>“You want me to decide?”</p>
<p>“You have better words.”</p>
<p>“If I type my opinion on <em>your</em> upload, you’ll look conceited.”</p>
<p>“It’s that flattering?” he teased. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Wooyoung pause. Of course he was listening.</p>
<p>“Most would say so. But if it looks like you wrote it, it won’t have the same effect.”</p>
<p>“What should I do, then?”</p>
<p>“I can put it on my page? I’ll tag you in the caption.”</p>
<p>Curiosity was eating him up. And…risk a little.</p>
<p>“Only if I get to take a picture of you—with your much better camera—and do the same.”</p>
<p>The amount of control Wooyoung was exerting <em>not</em> to spin around, and to stay seemingly occupied and oblivious, was impressive. But he had to end it soon—who knew when Yunho or the students would arrive.</p>
<p>“Okay.”</p>
<p>Yeosang tapped on his screen, chose the photo, and typed—a word?</p>
<p>“Posted. Here.” He handed his phone over.</p>
<p>San looked down at the phone:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Sin. @csthedevil. </p>
</blockquote><p>How was he supposed to compete with <em>that </em>reference? He clicked back to the camera app.</p>
<p>“Pose?”</p>
<p>Yeosang lifted one hand to the side of his head and tilted his face. The shirt slid. He smiled faintly. San quickly snapped a photo.</p>
<p>“There." He gave the phone back.</p>
<p>“I gave you choices, but you give me none. Thanks.”</p>
<p>“If you want me to take a hundred photos of you, Yeosang, I happily will. But this one is perfect.”</p>
<p>San pulled his phone from his pocket, and accepted the transfer. In the app, he uploaded the photo and thought quickly. Best to be honest.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Temptation. @nightmodegamer.</p>
</blockquote><p>He posted it, and held his phone for Yeosang to read. He looked up at San.</p>
<p>“I suppose the captions could apply to either of us.”</p>
<p>His phone lit up with text alerts from Seonghwa. Yeosang laughed at the sound and drifted toward Wooyoung.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Leaping past hope with two updates, into the land of unsubtle flirtation.<br/>
Don’t jump all boundaries at once.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That’d be poor tactics.<br/>
In the circumstances.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
It’s poor tactics in general.<br/>
Good luck.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>San wouldn’t say he was in a bad mood. Seeing a college student physically fight to ask for Yeosang’s number had shown self-control could evaporate in the face of his strange genetic magics. He felt sorry for people like that, and thankful no one present tonight seemed as affected. Though perhaps they were holding back given the picture presented. Wooyoung had looked smug, seeing Yeosang’s arm linked through San’s, his head on his shoulder, giving a good impression of…belonging. Perhaps San occasionally smoothing Yeosang’s hair added to the impression.</p>
<p>He did feel slightly penned in by the semi-circle of guests gathered around them on a living room sofa. The first guests had arrived two hours ago, and after eating the ordered-in food, were spread out around the apartment, drinking and chatting. The living room was large, but, he thought resignedly, close to Yeosang was where several seemed determined to stay. Even if he didn’t respond much, their eyes kept flickering towards him. Wooyoung had dealt with this at every party, and still been host? How?</p>
<p>Yunho wandered over with a wide smile. “Dance challenge!” he called out. Heads whipped towards him. “For anyone who wants to see the private home dance studio of one of their instructors….” Within seconds, people were following him back down the hallway. Wooyoung remained behind, leaning against a wall, a bottle of beer in one hand. A student turned to him, and he smiled.</p>
<p>“I’ll be there in a minute.” He held up the bottle. “No drinks in my studio!”</p>
<p>She nodded, and quickly ran off. Wooyoung walked towards them, and something about his expression struck a chord of alarm in San. Yeosang must have seen it, too, because he jerked his head up and stared at his friend suspiciously.</p>
<p>“What and why?”</p>
<p>“Excuse me?”</p>
<p>“I know that look. You have a plot in your head. Some idea so fantastic the world will weep with envy you thought of it first.”</p>
<p>“Never the world,” Wooyoung objected.</p>
<p>Yeosang hopped up from the couch and in three strides had a firm grip on the other’s shoulder.</p>
<p>“Spill.”</p>
<p>Wincing under the pressure, Wooyoung caved. “Just…well….” He looked at San. “I found this video of a dance cover someone in this room did. We thought it would be interesting to play songs from several years back, see how much people remember. <em>All</em> our advanced students are here now. It’ll be fun.”</p>
<p>All the students…oh, save him. Hadn’t he made his position clear?</p>
<p>“Yeosang, what the hell? That hurt!”</p>
<p>“So sorry.” He dropped his hand.</p>
<p>San slowly stood up, glancing back and forth between them.</p>
<p>“I don’t remember that much.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to. We only play parts of songs, and people who remember get up and dance.”</p>
<p>“In front of your students? And risk being filmed? No.”</p>
<p>“I can require all phones be left at the door,” Wooyoung persisted. “You had amazing body control. That’s not easy to teach. My students could use an up-close example”</p>
<p>So many emotions flashed across Yeosang’s face, San couldn’t keep track.</p>
<p>“You are extremely eager to get him to dance. Why is that? Anything to do with the whispering earlier this evening?”</p>
<p>“Uh, no. That was…” Wooyoung searched for words.</p>
<p>“A secret?”</p>
<p>“Related to his job. Shifters.”</p>
<p>“You had to whisper about it?”</p>
<p>“Yunho could have come in any minute.”</p>
<p>“He knows what San does for a living.”</p>
<p>“There could have been students with him?”</p>
<p>“That matters how? What were you talking about? Why does he have to dance?”</p>
<p>“I do <em>not</em> have to dance,” San interrupted.</p>
<p>“Fine!” Wooyoung set down his bottle. “It was just an idea. To help you with—to help my students.”</p>
<p>Yeosang narrowed his eyes. “To help your <em>students</em>? I don’t believe you. Go on. We’ll stay here and watch a drama.”</p>
<p>“What are you, fifty?”</p>
<p>“No, but you’re obsessed with some idea you know I won’t like. Wanna tell?”</p>
<p>“I’ll just go upstairs.” Wooyoung huffed, and stalked away.</p>
<p>“A drama?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know…that was too fishy. I don’t like it when he does this.” He sighed and walked back to the couch.</p>
<p>San shifted from foot to foot. He’d agreed to it—backed out later, but agreed in the first place. Stupidly.</p>
<p>“Aren’t you going to sit—hold on. I’m sorry.” Yeosang was reading text messages on the phone he’d held onto all night.</p>
<p>“Everything okay?”</p>
<p>“I’m not…”</p>
<p>The thrum of dance music echoed down to them.</p>
<p>“San, I need your room.” Yeosang had jumped back to his feet.</p>
<p>“My room?”</p>
<p>“Technically, I need the lock on your door. And I need you not to ask questions.” He hurried to the hallway, San on his heels.</p>
<p>“Ah.” His mind was racing. The new job? An early start? Or something leftover from his intern days? “Do you need my computer?”</p>
<p>“No. I have my laptop here, with me. I’ll get it. If you could just clear a space on your desk?” He darted ahead into his guest room.</p>
<p>San unlocked his door, and rushed in. A little thrilling, and somewhat disturbing. How many secrets did Yeosang have? He swept odds and ends into the top drawer, and was pushing his own laptop to the side when Yeosang stepped in, shut, and locked the door. San retreated to his bed.</p>
<p>“I’m staying in here with you?”</p>
<p>“You want to leave?”</p>
<p>“If you need security…”</p>
<p>“Just don’t ask questions. And don’t look over here. I trust you.” Yeosang checked all the connections and booted up his laptop.</p>
<p>Ouch. After he’d gone searching in the bureau files the other night. San turned to face the wall.</p>
<p>“You can talk, though,” Yeosang added. “I can multitask. Or you can watch something on your phone.”</p>
<p>He was silent for a while, rapid typing the only sound in the room.</p>
<p>“Can I ask questions not related to whatever you’re doing?”</p>
<p>“Mm-hm.”</p>
<p>“Where did you go the two weeks after Gyeowool…ended things?”</p>
<p>The typing slowed briefly, then picked up in speed.</p>
<p>“Wooyoung shared that, huh? I wish I could tell you. I can’t.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Whatever it was…Wooyoung said you were better after. It helped, whatever it was?”</p>
<p>“In a way.” Yeosang’s phone vibrated and he snatched it up. “I’m fixing all your errors as fast as I can. Remind hyung I’m not an AI.” He hung up and resumed typing.</p>
<p>“Should I forget I heard that?”</p>
<p>“Did it make sense to you?”</p>
<p>“No.” Though ‘hyung’ made him think of Kim Hongjoong.</p>
<p>“Then don’t worry. Like I said, I trust you.”</p>
<p>San squirmed uncomfortably. The searches <em>and</em> originally agreeing to the reasoning behind tonight’s party.</p>
<p>“Yeosang? I told Seonghwa-hyung about the scorpion sting when I called him about the clothes.”</p>
<p>“Ooh. How is it, by the way?”</p>
<p>“Better. But I should let him know that. He wanted me to rest.”</p>
<p>“Well, you are sitting on a bed. You can text him that without a lie.” Yeosang’s phone vibrated again. He didn’t answer it.</p>
<p>“Fair point.”</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
So far, not overdoing it.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Good.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me: </strong><br/>
Upstairs in the studio they’re doing a dance challenge.<br/>
Songs from several years ago.<br/>
Seeing who remembers choreography.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You’re dancing??</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Nooooo.<br/>
Wooyoung was pushing too much.<br/>
Yeosang got suspicious.<br/>
And I didn’t want to, anyway.<br/>
Not the time or place.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
San.<br/>
Why would Yeosang be suspicious?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Um. The party is because Wooyoung thought…<br/>
He had the idea that maybe if Yeosang felt jealous…<br/>
But in a safe place, not in public….<br/>
It might…speed things along…<br/>
It reads bad typed up.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
There’s no way to make it sound good.<br/>
You <em>agreed</em> to this?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I sort of did, but after talking to you, I told him no.<br/>
But he decided his plan was too good, I think.<br/>
Doesn’t matter. I refused to go along with it.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Hm. Why are you texting me, then?<br/>
And not spending time with Yeosang?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It’s complicated and—not bad, but…he’s doing work things.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I feel underinformed.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It’s just…his job involves computer programs.<br/>
He got a message from his boss to take care of something.<br/>
So he’s busy.<br/>
We’re actually…hanging out in my room.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
While everyone else is upstairs?<br/>
Didn’t I advise against going too far too fast?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Hyung!<br/>
We’re not doing anything.<br/>
I told you, he’s working on something at the desk.<br/>
I’m resting on my bed.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Resting.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I am. But I’m keyed up.<br/>
Yeosang knows something is up with tonight.<br/>
He suspects Wooyoung and is irritated with him.<br/>
He doesn’t know I’m sort of…a co-conspirator.<br/>
And in this side conversation we had a bit ago,<br/>
it came up that he trusts me.<br/>
I feel terrible.<br/>
Until you pointed out what you did,<br/>
I thought my chances were still so remote…<br/>
I made a mistake.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
So tell him that.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How?<br/>
What if he doesn’t trust me anymore?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Do you think he’s going to stop trusting Wooyoung?<br/>
Did he say anything like that?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
No…he just said he hates it when he plots like this.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You won’t have a clear conscience without telling him.<br/>
I’m not saying he’ll instantly forgive you…I don’t know him that well.<br/>
But I truly do not think he will cut you off.<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
There’s…there’s something more.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
More?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I can’t…I honestly can’t, go into details.<br/>
I so wish I could.<br/>
Because this is difficult to explain without context.<br/>
But I can’t tell you, hyung.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Does this have anything to do with him having shifter ancestry?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
How did you know that??</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
He startled me during stealth training.<br/>
ME.<br/>
I’m a shifter. I’m a panther shifter, to make it worse.<br/>
No ordinary human could have done that.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
That’s true.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You weren’t the only one looking for people who met the criteria.<br/>
We all knew the list.<br/>
I assume he went to <em>that</em> battalion.<br/>
Is this “something more” related to any of that?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Somewhat?<br/>
Something that Yunho and Wooyoung said…<br/>
About something that happened several months back…<br/>
Made me curious.<br/>
And I tried to look it up in the records.<br/>
Which…might have shown more than I expected.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Choi San!<br/>
Is he doing illegal things?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
NO.<br/>
But what I did was sneaky and so, again…<br/>
That whole trusting me thing?<br/>
I don’t feel it’s deserved.<br/>
And I’m scared to tell him.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
How did you go from being less worried to a wound-up mess?<br/>
All in less than a day?</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
He’s devastating tonight.<br/>
But also somehow easier to read.<br/>
It felt like if I was careful, it <em>would</em> be fine—<br/>
and I wasn’t careful.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
Before.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yes, before.</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
You have to tell him.<br/>
It’s going to become obvious you’re holding back.<br/>
The longer you wait, the worse you’ll feel.<br/>
But stress to him it was before.<br/>
Own up to your poor decisions.<br/>
And then—well…it depends on how he reacts.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
I’m level-headed and logical in my job.<br/>
Why can’t I be like that about him, around him?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
I’m going to assume that’s not a real question.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
It isn’t…<br/>
Why do you think I’m scared?</p>
<p>
  <strong>JumpScare:</strong><br/>
San-ah….<br/>
If I was there, I’d give you a hug.<br/>
As is, all I can do is repeat my advice: tell him.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Me:</strong><br/>
Yeah. I know.<br/>
I know.</p>
<p>San tossed his phone on the bed. Tuning back in, he heard Yeosang mumbling curse words, and still typing.</p>
<p>“I can still talk about anything not related to what you’re doing, right?” he asked tentatively.</p>
<p>“Mmm. Yes. <em>How the hell</em>—yes, yes, you can.”</p>
<p>The wall was such a boring color. Assuming he didn’t, in the next ten minutes, destroy everything that made it possible to live here, he should find out about repainting.</p>
<p>“You remember the night we were celebrating your new job?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Yunho wanted to tell a story about you and a mugger…and you made it clear you didn’t want it talked about. I figured out, from what you said then, that it had something to do with Kim Hongjoong. I know you meet him for lunch.”</p>
<p>“And you switched topics. Which I’m grateful for.”</p>
<p>“Um, you’re welcome. I fell asleep on the sofa during the drama, but I woke up in my bed. I tried to figure out how. The only thing that made sense, was that <em>you</em> had somehow moved me there. Because Yunho isn’t that quiet. You, though, can be soundless. You’d never said so, but it didn’t seem impossible that you could somehow be strong enough to do it. Wooyoung told me the next day you had, so obviously you <em>are</em>.”</p>
<p>“Yeah…I can do things like that. You aren’t <em>that</em> heavy, though.”</p>
<p>“Still.” San took a quick breath. “I wanted to know what had happened. And it was the middle of the night. I couldn’t wake you to ask. So…I logged into the bureau database and did a search. For reports filed by Kim Hongjoong.”</p>
<p>He paused. Yeosang continued typing. San bit his lip.</p>
<p>“I thought if you were with him, he might’ve had to submit paperwork, even for a mugging. Except you’d mentioned surprising someone. The only other time you’d talked about that related to him, and classified missions. Which, with him, and that battalion, meant shifters. Which meant it <em>wasn’t</em> a mugging. I wanted to know.” He swallowed. “When I saw you named as an intern in the report, I realized the timing overlapped with your research position. On a topic pretty vital for human-shifter relations. And I remembered you saying you only told me so much about your experiences, and everything that night, because I had enough clearance to know. Seeing the ‘intern’ title surprised me enough…I did a general search on you.”</p>
<p>“Did you?” came the quiet reply, the typing still quick, but softer.</p>
<p>“I saw how far back your records went. And how many were off-limits. I should have stopped then. But I didn’t. I looked at the ones I could access. A lot like the first, just the two of you. So many reports were sealed, but all the filing dates…seemed linked to your regular lunches with him. I don’t know how. I’m <em>not</em> asking how. I just…noticed. Putting all that together, along with the NDA, and a month’s probationary period, I tried to figure out what kind of job you’d gotten. I couldn’t. So I gave up. And now, tonight, you’re doing whatever you’re doing. You let me stay in the room because you trusted me. But you’d told me so many times that what you had done was classified, and I just…I went looking anyway. I thought if I could see the information, it wasn’t that much of a problem. But I had no <em>reason</em> to look up the files. It was just curiosity. It wasn’t professional. It was a mistake. I don’t feel I deserve your trust.”</p>
<p>A small sigh came from behind him.</p>
<p>“San. Do you know what happens when you query a fellow employee? The database admins get an alert.”</p>
<p>“Oh. They do?”</p>
<p>“Yes. The queries are categorized as security threats, or not. If they’re not, the employee queried is notified, so they can decide if they want to pursue any actions. I knew you’d run those searches before you had your encounter with—ugh—the scorpion shifters.”</p>
<p>“What?” He started to turn, then remembered he couldn’t. He looked up at the ceiling instead, twisting his hands together.</p>
<p>“It is not professional, that’s true. Yet even so, it is commonly done. Some people do searches during long shifts at the desk, just because they’re bored. At some point, <em>you</em> will be notified as an employee queried. Guaranteed.” Yeosang’s voice shook slightly with laughter.</p>
<p>“That’s…”</p>
<p>“Not something you’d expect in the bureau? It’s just because you haven’t been there long enough. Absurdities <em>abound</em>.”</p>
<p>“You’re not angry with me?”</p>
<p>“No. Not at all.”</p>
<p>“You were so quiet.”</p>
<p>“You were upset, and I treat that seriously. Feel any better? I still trust you.”</p>
<p>One down. But not the biggest, most terrifying issue. San fixed his eyes on the wall.</p>
<p>“Um, Yeosang? There’s something else.”</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“The whispering earlier tonight…”</p>
<p>The typing stopped.</p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“Wooyoung thought if you felt jealous, from me getting attention from other people, that you might…realize you liked me. He thought…no, <em>he and I</em> each separately thought you were interested, to some degree. In fact,” San’s words started to tumble out faster, “I have thought, for a long time, you might be. And then I’d tell myself you weren’t. Because you’re always so open. No filters, right? So, it had to just be me. Me wanting you to like me back. And then, that night when it was just the four of us, and Wooyoung urged you on about…how I look, and…you…you touching my face, and I was just sitting there, barely able to breathe. Just like that other night, when I couldn’t see you, and then suddenly, you’re there. Right behind me. Hand in my hair. Whispering to me. <em>Gods</em>. Do you have any idea how difficult that was? Telling myself it didn’t mean anything, that there was a logical explanation, there always is, calming myself down. Always telling myself not to misread or misinterpret. Because I never wanted to lose you as my friend, that has been my thought since you first messaged me. Not to assume, because you were interesting to talk to, and funny, and smart, and if I assumed something that wasn’t there, you might disappear. I’m not always rational when it comes to you. And…and I wanted <em>so much</em> for it to be more than just me…me adoring you, that I agreed with Wooyoung’s stupid idea. But before the actual party started, I swear this is the truth, you can ask him, he was so annoyed he will remember, I told him I wasn’t doing it. I can blame how tired I was, but it was still an idiotic move on my part, to agree in the first place. Because I only ever want you happy. Jealousy is awful—that was my first response to his idea, and I should have stuck to it. I messed up. I am so sorry, Yeosangie. I am so terribly sorry.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Don't hate me for ending it there, please. I really wanted to get this chapter up!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>After writing this chapter, I realized I needed to add a tag. So there it is.</p><p>Oh. No texting in this final chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>San was counting the seconds of silence. This was the worst torture. And he couldn’t even turn around.</p><p>“You were whispering about <em>all that</em> to Wooyoung? The…the feelings?”</p><p>“No! Not even close! I’d told him I didn’t want any part in his plan, like I said. Then he just…went weird. Freaking out that because of your ancestry, you might go wild with possessiveness and, I don’t know, tear the place apart? I whispered back that only dragon <em>shifters</em> cause mass destruction when jealous. And you’re not a shifter, anyway. That’s all.”</p><p>“Oh!” Yeosang’s voice was full of relief. “No wonder he didn’t want to tell me. That’s the dumbest thing he’s ever said. To my knowledge.” A slight pause. “How much…does he know? About you. Related to me, I mean.”</p><p>“He guessed I was…interested, let’s say, the first day.”</p><p>“How in the world did he guess that? On just meeting you!”</p><p>“Apparently I have a terrible ‘game face’ and didn’t look happy when you were hugging him hello.” San leaned forward and pressed his head against the wall. “He told me that in the little gym tour. I said it was a one-sided thing, and didn’t want to lose you. And then, a lot later, he told me some things about Gyeowool. He didn’t know you were there the night before.”</p><p>“I left early. Appointment I couldn’t break. Oh, hell, I’ve got to finish this.” He resumed typing. “He told you all he knows about her, huh? Everything I told him.”</p><p>“Well…you told me some of it, too. He was just...more expressive. And, well, he saw you that night, the racing game night. He saw all that. When I was awake…and after I fell asleep. Part of his…’jealous party’ idea was, he said, because you wouldn’t let Yunho move me from the couch.”</p><p>“Ahhh,” Yeosang sighed. “That. People say they sometimes forget what they say or do when they’re drinking. Never happens to me. I guess my reaction might have made all the gears in Wooyoung’s head start to spin.”</p><p>San waited for him to continue. Nothing but typing.</p><p>“Not to be all selfish, but when will you be done with whatever it is you’re doing? It’s really difficult to have this kind of conversation like this.”</p><p>“It’s not ideal. I’m…cleaning up a former co-worker’s mess. I have to check…various…areas. Rewrite…things. I hope I’m done soon. If not, if it’s much worse, he’s going to lose his promotion. He wasn’t the best choice anyway, so that might not be bad.”</p><p>Cleaning, checking, rewriting…? Wanting to save research data from destruction. Yeosang, he knew, had studied in the computer science department. Not a spy, but a <em>hacker</em>? Holy shit.</p><p>“You fell asleep during the first episode of the drama. Be glad. It wasn’t worth watching. I moved you to a more comfortable position while they watched the leads solve a case using sticks and twine.”</p><p>“No, they didn’t.”</p><p>“How do you know? You were asleep. But, okay, it wasn’t <em>that</em> bad. Though why people still think biometric security is foolproof? Beyond me.”</p><p>Because you’re a <em>hacker</em>. And you run high-clearance missions with the country’s most famous person in the shifter track and capture field. For all he knew, maybe they’d done things outside of the country. Not that he’d ever <em>know</em>.</p><p>“Dramas are…dramas. If they were realistic, it wouldn’t be helpful to us.”</p><p>“There is that. When the second episode ended, Yunho was all for dragging you to your room. I said he was too drunk to be helpful. He argued. I said fine, prove it. Show me a flawless body roll without falling over.”</p><p>“Uh, what?”</p><p>“He failed. He doesn’t remember. Wooyoung doesn’t remember. I wish I didn’t.”</p><p>“I can’t picture it.”</p><p>“Don’t try. But…,” he took a breath, “It didn’t really matter that much. I wasn’t going to let him haul you around. Not when I knew I could move you, without waking you.”</p><p>Why did getting details from Yeosang have to be so difficult?</p><p>“Wooyoung texted me that Yunho’s face was something else, when you did…pick me up.”</p><p>“I suppose so. I wasn’t paying much attention. I was rather focused on you. Off the sofa, down the hallway, into your room. It didn’t seem appropriate to undress you, so I just…laid you down on top of the quilt, and put an extra blanket over you. Oh, I did take off your slippers. But nothing more than that.”</p><p>“That took half an hour?”</p><p>The typing slowed again, then sped back up.</p><p>“Wooyoung was with Yunho in the living room. Consoling him over the failed body roll. So, after I’d made sure you were as comfortable as could be, I knelt next to the bed and just…looked at you. I don’t <em>think</em> I’d have done that if I’d been entirely sober, but I don’t know. Not like on any given day I could just stare at you for twenty minutes. That night, though, I did. Would you remember what I’d said? Would you remember I’d touched your face, your lips? I didn’t know. The times I’d tried flirting with you, you never responded, so maybe if you remembered, it would make everything strange. If it did, I wanted a memory of you peaceful and calm. I knew you’d never be unkind, but maybe you’d slowly start to slip away. That’s how I spent most of the time I was in here, with you, while you slept. Sound odd?”</p><p>“No,” San replied, blinking rapidly, “it sounds sad. It hurts to listen to.”</p><p>“I was awake a long time that night. Probably still awake when you began those searches. The relief I felt on seeing those notifications the next day! You wouldn’t have spent time in the files if you were going to disappear. When I was making food, then I got suspicious texts. A party because the night before ‘wasn’t as fun’? Wasn’t as fun as <em>what</em>? And a drinking challenge? Please. And then <em>you</em> texted me, all casual. I figured we were back to where we’d been before, and everything was normal. When I showed up here, earlier, everything seemed normal. And then…it wasn’t. You said…you said you would always be okay with people assuming we were together.”</p><p>“I meant it.”</p><p>“I know. But it startled me. Going from thinking you might leave, to thinking you’d forgotten, and then you said that? That changed everything. Hold on.” He stopped typing. The laptop clicked closed.</p><p>San heard him pick up his phone. A few seconds later, he was speaking. “It’s fixed. You won’t be able to call me for help in the future. <em>Be better</em>.”</p><p>“I’m done, San-ah. You can turn around. Thank you for being patient.”</p><p>Now seemed like the real discussion. His heart pounding, San turned around. Yeosang was fiddling with his phone, gazing at the floor.</p><p>“Fair’s fair. I had this laptop with me for a reason. Don’t think I was fretting in my room for hours. I had work to do. When it was over, I sat there and thought. Before I learned about ‘me,’ I lived life just fine. I dated people. I had friends. I thought I was well-liked. I felt lucky. I didn’t know there were other reasons people would want to be around me. Then I found out the truth. I worried about everyone new. As you saw in your searches, I started my internship right after discharge. I never had to worry about why hyung wanted me around. It was lovely, knowing things I can’t change were simply helpful tools, when I was with him. The rest of the time…the only people I talked to were online. Yunho and Wooyoung were in that program in Los Angeles, but they were busy a lot. When I wasn’t in class, or with hyung, I was in my apartment. I didn’t feel comfortable in dorms anymore. Nothing had actually changed, and I knew that. I mean, the effect. What I was able to do, my skills, they had increased. What drew people to me before was the same. Except not.”</p><p>“It must have felt like your whole world shifted.”</p><p>“Hm. Yeah.” Yeosang looked up at him. “When I first contacted you, it was out of curiosity. You were technically the one who’d altered my whole life.”</p><p>San winced.</p><p>“It isn’t your fault. Like I said before, I was lucky it was you. If not for what you wrote, maybe hyung wouldn’t have taken an interest. Not a pleasant thought. But, that’s off-topic. I really was not expecting a confession tonight. My thoughts are a little jumbled.” He shrugged apologetically.</p><p>“Can you…not do that?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“The shrugging thing. In that shirt. It slides when you do that. It’s incredibly distracting.”</p><p>“Oh. I could…go get clothes to change. But they’re in the other room—”</p><p>“No, it’s fine. Just don’t move so much.”</p><p>“Okay.” A tiny smile flickered on Yeosang’s face.</p><p>Hope swirled inside him at that smile.</p><p>“It was weird. Within minutes, I felt completely easy talking to you. Part of that was because you weren’t face to face with me. I didn’t have to worry about the effect. If it was an issue or not. And then that dance cover.” Yeosang laughed. “<em>That</em> showed a side of you I’d never expected from Assistant Instructor Choi San. Sexy, yeah, but it made me more curious. And the panther shifter jump scare jokes made me laugh. What was the entire you like? I was captivated. Even when Yunho and Wooyoung came back to Korea, I always wanted to talk to you, as much as I could, as often as I could. When I found out you were applying for a position in the bureau here, I was excited. And you got it! Not that I was that surprised. You’re very good.”</p><p>“Knowing what I know now, and some of what I’ve put together, I take that as a high compliment.”</p><p>Yeosang smiled wryly. “You’re welcome. I was also nervous. I didn’t know, <em>then</em>, if you’d be…affected. It’s why I didn’t rush to meet you. I know you were busy training, but we could have met. I didn’t know if I should risk it.”</p><p>“Because of Gyeowool.”</p><p>He paused. “Not just her, though she…made it much worse for a while. Theoretically, the ‘draw’ isn’t that much different than people talking to, say, you or Wooyoung or Yunho, because you’re good-looking, without knowing anything about your personalities. But accepting that theory into daily life is difficult when the intensity of that draw varies. Like when Gyeowool’s friend ran up to me to get my number. Moments like that are when the weirdness rushes back. It isn’t the same.”</p><p>The helplessness in his voice was unbearable. San slid off the bed and started pacing back and forth.</p><p>“Yeosang…let’s take the magical aspect out. She saw you. She thought you were hot. You <em>are</em> extremely attractive. And before you accuse me of having a bias, Seonghwa admitted the same thing the first time he saw your photo, when you messaged me. He said you were ethereal. He said, if he was an artist, he would travel to wherever you lived to paint your portrait. But you can <em>never</em> tell him I told you that.”</p><p>“Uh, okay. I believe you.”</p><p>“Good. Back to that encounter. She thinks you’re hot. She tells her friend. Her friend says that’s her ex. Exes are, almost always, off-limits. Everyone knows that. Taking only that into account, of course Gyeowool would be mad. And the friend running to you? Way weirder things happen in dramas,” San said emphatically.</p><p>“Dramas aren’t real life.”</p><p>“No. They’re not. But writers easily imagine much stranger things than one human chasing another to get a phone number. It isn’t typical, but it isn’t impossible to believe. Recall this entire party was based on the idea that a stranger would see me, and find me so appealing he would instantly approach, which would instantly get you jealous, and instantly gift you that very drama-esque moment of dawning realization. Isn’t <em>that</em> weirder?”</p><p>Yeosang giggled.</p><p>How he loved hearing that sound.</p><p>“That’s…a new way to look at it. I take your point.”</p><p>“Since we’re talking about unrealistic moments, let me mention the café.”</p><p>“Unrealistic? I couldn’t avoid meeting you forever. I didn’t want to. It seemed fated, me being so close by when you posted that photo.”</p><p>“Unrealistic because of the absolute terror I was thrown into. I was <em>not</em> ready to meet you. The online friend I’d had a crush on for months? Meeting him with no warning? I had to text Seonghwa-hyung to calm down. And then you put up that caption! ‘Absolutely sinful’? How was I supposed to read that? About the chocolate cake, surely. But what if it wasn’t. So many times, you say things that can be interpreted in different ways. And then, you made it worse!” He flung his arms out. “Telling me why you wouldn’t drop the ‘devil’ joke. You went up to get bubble tea and I was so stunned I was, again, frantically texting hyung. Who tells someone that people would sell their souls to look like them, but even more would sell their souls to be <em>with them</em>? Seonghwa-hyung himself called it all a drama scene. It sure felt like one.” He stopped pacing. “Why <em>did</em> you say all those things?”</p><p>“<em>You</em> started the hashtag. You deserved the double meaning.”</p><p>“Oh?” San regarded him with interest. “Were you having sinful thoughts, Yeosangie?”</p><p>“Not precisely. You didn’t react immediately on seeing me. That was wonderful. But there <em>I </em>was, sitting across from a fallen angel.”</p><p>“You are infuriating.” San crossed his arms.</p><p>“But you still love me.”</p><p>He closed his eyes and squeezed his arms against his chest. Every conversation he had with Yeosang was a roller coaster. With loops. And sudden drops.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Sanie. Look at me.”</p><p>Fear. Hope. Fear. Hope. San opened his eyes.</p><p>“We have each, apparently, wanted to be more than just friends for a long time. Misreading and misunderstanding kept getting in the way. Until today, I wouldn’t have been jealous if I’d seen someone flirting with you. I’d have been scared. That I’d lose you. Then you said you’d always be okay if other people thought we were together. Then the caption you wrote on my photo. Then how relaxed you were, in the living room, when those people were around us. Then, of course, your confession.” Yeosang smiled.</p><p>Fear started to recede. His throat didn’t feel as tight.</p><p>“The plan for this party…in case you need to hear it, I forgive you for that. You <em>were</em> tired, and Wooyoung <em>is</em> very persuasive. And you didn’t do anything in support of his ridiculous scheme. More relevant is how brave it is, to confess. I don’t know when I’d have had the courage. I can’t say anything as beautiful as what you said. You think my words are better? No. I’m happy when you’re happy. I want to protect you. I don’t like saying goodbye to you, and going home alone. I love your voice, your smile, how kind you are. I can’t really comment on your deductions from your database searches,” his mouth quirked, “but I will say again, it’s no surprise you got your job. I liked you before I ever met you. Well, for the second time. You know what I mean. Being physically near you is intoxicating and addictive. If I add that all up, is that love? I’ve never been in love before, so I don’t really know.”</p><p>“You think that’s not beautiful? We have different understandings of the word, if so.”</p><p>Yeosang shrugged.</p><p>“I asked you to please stop doing that.”</p><p>“This shirt,” he rubbed the material, “bothers you that much?”</p><p>“Yes,” he said shortly.</p><p>“Then close your eyes.”</p><p>“Why?” he asked.</p><p>“Just do it.”</p><p>With a sigh, San closed his eyes. Not long after, he heard Yeosang walk towards him. A hand brushed his shoulder and he twitched.</p><p>“Calm down, Sanie. This isn’t new.”</p><p>His eyes flew open…to see nothing. He twisted around.</p><p>“No,” came the soft voice.</p><p>A hand slid into his hair, twisted, and pulled sharply.</p><p>He instantly swore never to cut his hair too short.</p><p>“What are you doing?” he breathed out.</p><p>“You said you liked when I did this last time, and <em>seeing</em> me in the shirt bothers you, so….” A kiss on his neck.</p><p>“You said,” his breathing slightly ragged, “that doing this makes you tired.”</p><p>“Not as much as the other day. That was a long day. And there is this absolutely delicious,” a kiss on his jaw, “energy right now to draw on. Interesting.”</p><p>“Yeosang. This. Isn’t fair. I can’t. See you.”</p><p>“True.” The other hand slid across his shoulder and down his arm. “But it occurs to me that though I forgive you,” his hand was raised, “my sweet, sinful angel, you might want a reminder,” a kiss pressed into his palm, “why it wasn’t the best idea.” His hand was released. He immediately reached out. “No, not yet.”</p><p>He dropped his arm.</p><p>“I didn’t do anything.”</p><p>“I know. But for a little while, you thought about it,” came the whisper. “Maybe wondered how I’d react?” Fingertips brushed across his face and mouth.</p><p>San shuddered.</p><p>“Your mouth really is lovely.”</p><p>Abruptly, the pressure tilting his head back was released.</p><p>“Where <em>are</em> you?”</p><p>Two hands slid caressingly up from his jaw, fingers closing his eyes, and then the hands slid back into his hair, pulling him forward.</p><p>“Right here, love.”</p><p>Softly, lips brushed his. He gasped and the kiss deepened. This was <em>insane</em>. </p><p>Yeosang gently bit his lower lip, then murmured, “You don’t have to stay still anymore. Unless you’re into that.”</p><p>His eyes snapped open and there, he was right there. <em>Finally</em>. He wrapped his arms around the slighter frame and yanked him closer. No. Not into that. The pressure and intensity of the kiss made his head swim. Yeosang’s nails dragged through his hair. Selling souls, San thought hazily. He would sell his soul for this never to end. Maybe he had. His entire body was burning. Burning—oh, right, his lungs. Oxygen. He broke the kiss and gulped for air. Yeosang leaned against him. Voices could be heard beyond the room.</p><p>“I have. No objection to more.” Yeosang was catching his breath. “But not here. Not tonight. People are back downstairs. I don’t want to be a party cliché.”</p><p>San nodded. “Then…I’m going to need a minute.”</p><p>“You think I won’t?” Amusement colored his voice. “But…just…..” A hard, fast kiss. “Okay.”</p><p>San stared at him.</p><p>“What? <em>You</em> were the one who said I looked like temptation.”</p><p>His lips slightly swollen, cheeks flushed, and shirt entirely wrinkled…temptation was accurate.</p><p>“People <em>are</em> going to know something happened.”</p><p>“Yes. But with that knowledge, they’ll know you’re off-limits.” His mouth curved in a smile.</p><p>“People still keep hovering around you,” San said pointedly.</p><p>“I have an idea for that. Give me one of your shirts.”</p><p>With a sense of unreality, San stepped over to his closet. He heard a faint rustle. If he turned around…they wouldn’t be able to leave the room. He shook his head and reached for a black tee shirt.</p><p>“Do you have to ruin my look? A button-down, please. I’m not built like you, but oversized button-downs can look good with jeans.”</p><p>San snorted. “Here.” He stretched his arm behind him, a shirt in his hands.</p><p>Yeosang chuckled and took it from him. He waited.</p><p>“I’m decent.”</p><p>San turned back.</p><p>“You know,” he said faintly, “maybe you should have stayed in the black shirt.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“You’re wearing my clothes. So you look…”</p><p>“Like I have a boyfriend?” He raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Yeah.” He sighed.</p><p>“You’d rather me not?”</p><p>“What? No. It’s a really, really good look on you,” he replied fervently.</p><p>“Good. People should know I belong to someone.”</p><p>San sputtered. “<em>Why</em> do you always say things like that?”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“Just, sudden words like that. It always gets me.”</p><p>“It does?” He bit his lip.</p><p>“Stop that.”</p><p>Yeosang smiled and reached for San’s hand. “Then off we go. For now.”</p><p>Breezily, he led the way out of the room, and back toward the kitchen. He seemed uncaring of the curious looks. San felt aware of everything.</p><p>Wooyoung was taking desserts from the baker’s boxes. Yeosang walked straight to him.</p><p>“Wooyoungie.”</p><p>San blinked. That voice wasn’t his normal voice. It was…sugary.</p><p>Slowly, Wooyoung turned around to face them. His face when he saw them…oh, this promised to be good.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Is Yunho still upstairs?” Strike that. Syrupy voice. Wooyoung began to look nervous.</p><p>“He is.”</p><p>“Do me a favor, then? Tell him he owes me an apology. Or that challenge is back on, and I’ll ensure he has the most horribly painful, feelings-of-death hangover he’s ever had, or will ever have.”</p><p>Wooyoung licked his lips. “Are you mad at him?”</p><p>“Mad at him? No.” His voice was honeyed. “Mildly annoyed he went along with your scheme? Yes. Trying to get <em>my</em> San to dance like that video, in front of strangers? Not a fan, Wooyoung.”</p><p>“He didn’t…really want to, anyway.”</p><p>“Oh, so <em>all</em> this was your idea?”</p><p>San had never known someone could sound so lethally sweet.</p><p>“Yeosang, it was for a good reason. And—look. You’re holding hands.”</p><p>“That has nothing to do with your plans,” his voice dropped. “It’s entirely due to <em>honesty</em>. I know you meant well, but if you ever, <em>ever</em> try any even slightly manipulative idea on me or on him, I will sell all your autographed K-pop merch on e-Bay for a U.S. penny.”</p><p>Wooyoung looked horrified. “You wouldn’t.”</p><p>“I would.”</p><p>“When did you get so evil?” he demanded.</p><p>“Evil? No. I’m being careful.” He stepped closer, his voice barely audible. “Weren’t you worried mythic shifters could be dangerous, if emotional?”</p><p>San fought back laughter as Wooyoung glared at him.</p><p>“You’re not a shifter,” he hissed back.</p><p>“But I’m not one hundred percent human. So who knows? Better safe than sorry, Wooyoungie.” He tapped a finger on his friend’s cheek and smiled brightly.</p><p>He scowled at them. “Get out of my kitchen.”</p><p>“Chocolate cookies, first, please.”</p><p>Growling, Wooyoung grabbed a plate and filled it.</p><p>“Here.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Yeosang cooed. He tugged on San’s hand. “Let’s go back to the living room.”</p><p>San was certain of a new fact: in previous lifetimes, Yeosang had brought down empires.</p><p>An hour and a half later, Wooyoung was making rounds through increasingly sleepy guests, handing out blankets. He stopped in front of them.</p><p>“I have never before seen Yeosang left alone like this. Pretty sure it’s down to the ‘not a remote chance in hell’ vibe you’re both giving off.”</p><p>Yeosang blinked at him. “Are you…<em>jealous</em>, Wooyoungie?”</p><p>“How long until you let that drop?”</p><p>San raised his hand. “I’m still the devil after nearly two years. I doubt he’ll let it go anytime soon.”</p><p>“You’re both annoying. Go back to that locked door bedroom. You’re making all the single people grumpy.”</p><p>“Hmm. Are you tired, Sanie?”</p><p>“Sort of. Are you?”</p><p>“Getting there?”</p><p>“Then we’re moving. I am <em>not</em> going to deal with your sleeping admirers.”</p><p>Wooyoung’s mouth twitched. “Even better reason.”</p><p>With ease, Yeosang bounded up from the armchair he’d been sharing with San. He grabbed a blanket from Wooyoung.</p><p>“Why do you need one of those?”</p><p>“Day 1. Not Day…well. Don’t know which day, yet.”</p><p>Wooyoung’s jaw dropped.</p><p>San sighed and, standing up, gave Yeosang a shove. “Goodnight, Wooyoung.”</p><p>They made their way down the hallway.</p><p>“Oh. Suitcase. Go on, be right there.” Yeosang walked ahead and quietly entered the next room.</p><p>Unlocking his door, he caught sight of the black top on the floor and flung it in the hamper. Out of sight, out of mind. Was his bathroom okay? He looked around. Yeah. He heard the door shut and the lock flipped. Okay. Figure this out.</p><p>Yeosang was already taking out—yes—a pajama set. He smiled. Some weekend not too far in the future, he hoped Seonghwa could arrange a visit to Seoul. Hands in his pockets, he strolled over.</p><p>“Is the blanket a for real one of us sleeps on the floor thing, or were you amusing yourself at Wooyoung’s expense? If it’s the first, I get it. You can have the bed.”</p><p>“And let you sleep on the floor? No. The blanket was to get him to ask, so I could answer, then see his face.” He grinned mischievously.</p><p>“You should be aware,” San said carefully, “that I’m almost your exact opposite when it comes to sleepwear.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“That’s not a problem?”</p><p>A short pause.</p><p>“Are you daring me?”</p><p>“Nope! No. Really. No. Just thought I should put the information out there.”</p><p>“Oh, well. Can I shower first?”</p><p>San waved him on. After the bathroom door shut, he took a deep breath. Being in a relationship with Yeosang was never going to be boring.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This story was so fun to write! </p><p>Fwiw, @OftenEvening is my Twitter for writing-related stuff, tho I don't post that often. But if you want, you can message me there. :)</p><p>Do hope you liked the fic. Next one is going to be pretty different, but still...SanSang. ;D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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